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GERMANTOWN 

OLD AND NEW 

Its Rare 

and Notable 

Plants 




1904 



BY EDWIN C. JELLETT 



(53 



c^ 



s^\ 



LIBRARY of OOWaSitSS 
Two Copies H«ceiv«« 

JAN 13 1905 
Oopyrignt t.wy i 

«lASS «. XXc. No; i 

/6 3 Sl V \ 

COPY B. ; 



Copyrighted, 1904, by Horace F. McCann 



Germantown Independent-Gazette 
Germantown, Pa. 



I 



To 
CLARA HELEN BAUMANN 
a native of Germantown whose 
ancestors beautified it in the 
past as their successor honors 
and enriches it in the present. 




PRBFACB 

This outline sketch of our "rare and notable 
plants" was prepared at the direction of "The Ger- 
mantown Horticultural Society" and was read at its 
public meeting of May g, 1904,— the same later ap- 
pearing in the columns of the "Germantown Inde- 
pendent-Gazette." 

At the time of writing, there was no thought 
of pubHshing the paper, it being hurriedly assem- 
bled outside the time required for daily positive 
duties within the limits of one week, — and was in- 
tended only for a simple address. 

This will partly explain, if it does not excuse 
obvious defects, and since I have been urged by sev- 
eral members of the Society named to present the 
paper in print, I have concluded to send it forth with 
all its faults from the same types by which it first 
appeared, asking only that the circumstances be re- 
membered, for no one I feel confident, is able to 
satisfactorily present the plants of Germantown in 
an article so brief, — or more definitely, — I am not 
able to do so. To the original paper I have added 
an index, which I hope may not be found superflu- 
ous. 

For the illustrations which grace our pages, I 
am indebted to S. Mendelsohn Meehan, — who sug- 
gested this paper, — and to Horace F. McCann — who 
printed it. The faces which familiarly greet us I 
have added to dignify our work, for pasfand present 
they represent the "stuff" which built our town — 



PREFACE 

preserved it, — and now keep it, — forever famous. 
Last, but not least, I feel sure we are all pleased with 
the appearance of our "book," and to Erwin W. 
Moyer, whose skill and good taste built upon a 
substratum apparently hopelessly unpromising a 
structure so creditable, I wish to record my heartiest 
thanks. 

E. C. J. 

SECOND EDITION 

I am surprised and touched by the reception 
given our little "Book," for knowing its deficiencies, 
I did not anticipate the welcome given it. As origi- 
nally announced, our paper was intended for a defi- 
nite address, and I had no idea it would prove of in- 
terest beyond the immediate "circle" for which it 
was prepared. Upon repeated requests for publi- 
cation, I was prompted to issue an edition I thought 
sufficient for the demand, but this in a few days was 
exhausted, and to satisfy a further demand, I am 
again urged to issue a "new and enlarged edition," 
Horace F. McCann, the proprietor of the "German- 
town Independent-Gazette," volunteering to become 
responsible for the same. To this there can be no 
objection and only one reply, but in view of the fact 
that the article was written for our "Horticultural 
Society," I do not feel justified in altering more than 
I slighted, or in adding more than my haste over- 
looked. With this explanation. Gentle Reader, I 



PRBPACn 

wish to thank you and retire, hoping shortly that we 
meet again, — for if you love flowers, trees, babbling 
brooks, pure air, glorious sunshine and congenial 
company, so do I, and through the delectable fields 
of our Home Eden I trust we may together roam, 
until the richness and beauty of its sacred posses- 
sions rise to a proper appreciation, and as wide as 
they are deserving become known. 

Oct. i8, 1904. E. C. J. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



FRONTISPIECE 



Oak tree on Rabbit Lane, near County Line Road. 
Photograph by Charles Edward Pancoast. 



/ 



PAGE TWENTY-THREE 



"Morris-Littell" House, at southeast corner of 
Main and High streets. The rear part of this 
house I believe to have once been the residence 
of Dr. Christopher Witt. — (B. C. J.) Photo by J. 
H. Russ. 



PAGE TWENTY-NINE 



J 



George Redles. A remarkable botanist, wiiose 
knowledge of our native and cultivated plants 
is unsurpassed, and whose modesty is equal to his 
acquirements. Photograph by Mrs. George 
Redles. 



PAGE THIRTY-ONE 



Wakefield, a notable historic mansion, whose 
surrounding grounds exhibit many of our finest 
plants. Etching by Joseph Pennell. Penna. Mag- 
azine. 



PAGE FORTY 



Naglee Houses. "Original" houses, exhibiting 
to the present, the stone dwellings of early Ger- 
mantown. Print also shows "Jake," Turn-Pike 
Bridge, and "Joe Nafles." From drawing by 
John Richard. 



PAGE FORTY-THREE 



Weeping Elms. Beautiful specimens shading 
the entrance to Meehans' nurseries. Cut from 
"Meehans' Monthly." 



•/ PAGE FORTY-SIX 



Louis Clapier Baumann, in his day the leading 
Florist of Germantown, and the first "wholesale 
grower of cut flowers" for the Philadelphia 
markets. Photograph copy by E. C. J. 



PAGE FIFTY 



Hemlock Grove of the "Monks," situated on the 
Wissahickon, above Kitchen's Lane. Photograph 
by B. C. J. From "Meehans' Monthly." 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE FIFTY-ONE 



Jersey pine, — or Pinus Rigida, — those shown ap- 
pearing on the Wissahickon at Spruce-mill, — or 
Thomas's Mill Road. Photograph by E. C. J. 



^ PAGE FIFTY-SIX 



Charles J. Wister, who preserves the traditions 
of "Grumblethorpe," and following in the foot- 
steps of an illustrious line, is honored and be- 
loved wherever known. Photograph by Samuel 
R. Gray. 



PAGE FIFTY-EIGHT 



Thomas Nuttall, a noted naturalist, lecturer and 
explorer. An exceedingly rare spleenwort keeps 
before us his name. From "Botanists of Phila- 
delphia," by John W. Harshberger, Ph. D. 



PAGE SIXTY-ONE 



Ivy Lodge. The home of John Jay Smith, — who, 
after a long active life in intellectual and good 
works, here died September 25, 1881. Photograph 
by E. A. Prey. 



PAGE SIXTY-THREE 



Johnson's cypress trees and spring. Our great- 
est and most noted cypress grove, and which has 
no equal near Philadelphia. Photograph by 
Henry Troth. 



PAGE SIXTY-FOUR 



Elliston P. Morris, owner of the "Deshler-Mor- 
ris" mansion which President "Washington occu- 
pied, and the possessor also of one of the finest 
gardens in Germantown. Print of "The German- 
town Independent-Gazette." 



PAGE SIXTY-SIX 



R. Robinson Scott, an eminent Gerniantown hor- 
ticulturist, and the discoverer of the famous fern 
known as "Scott's Spleenwort." Photograph 
copy by E. C. J. Print of "Pern-Bulletin." 



PAGE SIXTY-SEVEN 



Cancer-root, the strangest and rarest plant in 
our territory, — a native of the "Wissahickon 
woods. Collected by B. C. J. for Meehans' 
Monthly. Photograph by Henry Troth. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

J _____ 



PAGE SEVENTY-ONE 



"Wyck," a marvel of quaintness, and of exquisite 
beauty. The oldest house and garden in German- 
town, and the richest in its associations .Pho- 
tograph by Gilbert Hindermyer. From "House 
and Garden." 



PAGE SEVENTY-FIVE 



Johnson Homestead, at northwest corner of 
Main street and Washington lane, a house re- 
nowned in local history, whose garden is its 
equal in absorbing interest. Print of "The Ger- 
mantown Independent-Gazette." 



PAGE SEVENTY-EIGHT 



"Pomona Grove," — the home of Col. Thos. For- 
rest, — later of Amos R. Little, — the "cut" show- 
ing in the foreground, its famous yew. From 
Meehans' Monthly. 



PAGE SEVENTY-NINE 



Cliveden, the centre of the Germantown battle 
ground, and the home of many beautiful plants. 
"Cut" shows the original Papen, or Jansen 
House, also "Chews' spring," once near where B. 
Johnson street now is. From print furnished by 
Dr. Naaman H. Keyser. 



^ PAGE EIGHTY 



Upsala, celebrated for its stately beauty, and its 
possessions of rare and unique plants. Photo- 
graph by J. H. Russ. 



PAGE EIGHTY-FOUR 



Joseph Meehan, a noted botanist and horticul- 
turist, whose writings form an integral part of 
our best floricultural magazines. Print of 
"Floral Exchange." 



PAGE NINETY 



Prof. Thomas Meehan, a noted scientist, educator 
and writer, the author of the greatest books 
upon our native flora, and the nestor of Amer- 
ican Horticulture. Print of "Meehans' Monthly." 




GERMANTOWN 

Rare and Notable Plants 



N the presentation and consideration of 
our home plants of special interest, it 
should be kept in mind that nearly all, if 
not quite all were transplanted to the po- 
sitions they now occupy, and that there is here no 
disposition to compare or contrast with other plants 
of greater age, of more historic worth, our rare and 
notable plants of "nature" and cultivation. 

Our purpose is rather to show that, with our 
town's increase in girth and years, we have had a 
like advance in intelligence and culture, and that our 
old mansions, gardens and those who keep them 
have earned for Germantown the title, — "the most 
beautiful suburb in America." 

We have no yew trees 3000 years old, no oak 
trees of 2000 years' growth, no "Burnham beeches," 
nor have we other plants of great age equal to those 
of older countries and especially England, but such 
as we have we shall in outline endeavor to present, 
and direct attention to the fact that they have mer- 
ited and received the attention of visitors, who have 
had opportunity for observation abroad. About ten 
years ago, George Nicholson, curator of the Royal 
Botanical Gardens of Kew, London, was the guest 
of Prof. Thomas Meehan, and spent some time here. 
After leaving he said : 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

"Germantown is a place which every foreigner 
interested in American trees should visit, as the peo- 
ple of this suburb of Philadelphia one hundred years 
ago were especially interested in the introduction 
and cultivation of rare trees, and the first cultivated 
specimens of several American trees were originally 
planted here, and may still be seen. The roads of 
Germantown are shaded with beautiful rows of na- 
tive trees, and behind them stretch the green lawns 
of innumerable villas." 

John Walter, editor of the London Times, while 
here expressed similar views, and many other visi- 
tors and writers who passed through Germantown 
have left us interesting and valuable records of their 
"impressions." 

To name all our worthy plants were a hopeless 
task, and one I shall not attempt. Our efforts shall 
be rather to trace the thread of development, and by 
examples of past and present conspicuous plants to 
illustrate its growth. To do this properly we should 
go back to the settlement of the town itself, know 
the causes which gave it birth, understand the char- 
acter of its founders and their pursuits — its growth 
material and intellectual, before we may be able to 
meet its merits with an equal appreciation. 

Alway while walking along our Main street I 
am reminded of the popular well-known thorough- 
fare of Oxford, England, which it strangely suggests, 
and I sometimes wonder if it was not this ancient 

14 



GURMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

street, and not the central highway of Philadelphia, 
which to our own principal thoroughfare 150 years 
ago gave us High street, a name by which it was 
long known. Be this as it may, our Main street in 
a very striking way resembles its more widely 
known namesake abroad, a highway Hawthorne de- 
scribed as "the noblest street in England," and to 
which "Wordsworth devoted a sonnet to the stream- 
Hke windings of that glorious street." 

As I follow our "avenue's" pleasing course,! am 
further reminded of old Edinburgh's hallowed hill, 
and as I picture its steep ascent, its numerous his- 
toric buildings, its atmosphere of an antiquity which 
may be "felt," I see Sir Walter Scott from his car- 
riage strenuously discoursing upon its wealth of in- 
terests to the delight of his guests and his own 
apparent satisfaction, for to him Edinburgh was 
home, and to so entertain his friends was "very 
heaven," and as I look into the future, I see our own 
"cannongate" of not one whit less historic value, by 
one as illustrious, made as widely, and as perma- 
nently known. 

In olden time it was the custom to approach 
Germantown only by the "Great Road," for indeed 
for a period there was no other way. The original 
survey map of Germantown, dated October 24, 1683, 
now in the possession of Governor Samuel W. Pen- 
nypacker, is void of side roads or lanes, but this de- 
fect immediately after the settlement was remedied, 

15 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

maps following, showing lanes to mills, and later 
maps showing other roads connecting Germantown 
with important near-by pikes east and west. After 
Rittenhouse Mill road, and Lukens' Mill road, one 
of the most important of later roads was Bensell's 
or School House lane connecting our Main street 
with Ridge road, a favorite route with travelers 
when the quagmires and quicksands of "3-Mile Run" 
proved troublesome. 

In a letter dated March 7, 1684, which Francis 
Daniel Pastorius wrote his parents, he gave them 
this information : "As relating to our newly laid out 
town Germanopolis or Germantown, it is situated 
on a deep and very fertile soil, and is blessed with 
an abundance of fine springs and fountains of fresh 
water. The main street is 60 feet wide, and the 
cross streets 40 feet in width. Each family has a plot 
of ground for yard and garden 3 acres in size. The 
air is pure and serene, the summer is longer and 
warmer than it is in Germany, and we are cultivat- 
ing many kinds of fruits and vegetables, and our 
labor meets with rich reward." 

The ground of which Pastorius wrote was not 
the immigrants' first choice, but after a difference 
with William Penn, was selected on account of its 
elevation, and also because it was open ground with 
only here and there groups of trees. After the sur- 
vey lines were established, farms and gardens, and 
of course, houses were located on each side of the 

16 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

main road, the farm boundaries extending in paral- 
lel lines from the "Great Road" east to Bristol town- 
ship line, now Stenton avenue, and west to the Rox- 
borough line, now Wissahickon avenue. In other 
respects these lines, however, were never strictly 
drawn, and places on York road to the east, and 
Roxborough on the west, were nearly always re- 
ferred to as "Germantown." 

The Main street farm lots began a few feet 
north of "Lower Burying Ground," now Hood's 
Cemetery, and were plotted northward in divisions 
of "half lots" of 1153^ feet front each, or "whole 
lots" of 231 feet front each, to a point adjoining 
"Upper" or "Concord Burying Ground," located a 
few feet north of Kyser's, or Abington, now Wash- 
ington lane. The original settlers of "42 persons in 
12 families" were located upon this road, for so it 
had been planned. In "a further account of the 
Province of Pennsylvania," published in 1685, wrote 
Penn : 

"We do settle in the way of townships or vil- 
lages, each of which contains 5000 acres in square, 
and at least 10 families ; many that had right to more 
land were at first covetous to have their whole quan- 
tity without regard to this way of settlement, tho' 
by such wilderness vacancies they had ruined the 
country and then our interest of course. I had in 
my view society, assistance, busy commerce, instruc- 
tion of youth, government of people, manners, con- 

17 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

veniency of religious assembling, encouragement of 
mechanics, distinct and beaten roads, and it has an- 
swered in all those respects, I think, to the univer- 
sal! content." 

Our first settlers were not tillers of the soil. 
Pastorius records they were "mostly linen weavers, 
unaccustomed to husbandry," but "yeomen" closely 
followed, and soon 

"The meads' environed with the silver streames" 
were planted, and by a gracious providence stimu- 
lated to transmit to us the increase. William Penn 
quoting Robert Turner, wrote — "the manufacturers 
of linnen by the Germans goes on finely, and they 
make fine linnen. Samuel Carpenter, having been 
lately there, declares they had gathered one crop of 
flax, and had sowed for the second and saw it come 
up well." 

This Samuel Carpenter was a busy resident of 
Philadelphia, and was familiar with Germantown by 
reason of being the holder of 500 acres of ground in 
the vicinity of present Branchtown. 

Very early in the growth of the new colony the 
importance of Germantown was recognized, and al- 
though its founders were disappointed, desiring 
ground upon a "navigable stream," they made the 
best of what they considered a poor bargain, and 
losing no time, they, under the direction of Pasto- 
rius, gave life and vigor to the new "town," planted, 
cultivated, and eight years after the settlement, Old- 

18 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

mixon stated, "the whole street about one mile in 
length was lined with blooming peach trees." Soon 
the hastily constructed log cabins gave way to sub- 
stantial buildings of stone, and much of the stone, 
I doubt not, came from the quarry of Godfried Leh- 
man, located at what is now Main and Price streets, 
where the old round-house once stood. Those who 
remember the Heivert Papen or Jansen house, built 
in 1698, and which about 25 years ago was removed 
from the northwest corner of Main and Johnson 
streets, may picture the houses "built of stone which 
is mixed with glimmer," observed by Peter Kalm 
in his visit here in 1748, the same as yet stand for 
observation in the homestead houses of the family 
giving name to Naglee's Hill. 

About this time the character of Germantown 
began to change, although this change did not be- 
come pronounced until 50 years later. An influx of 
settlers of means and the improved conditions of the 
natives created new desires, houses became larger 
and more elaborate, "plantations" or "estates" be- 
gan to take the place of farms, trade stimulated by 
wealth became of more importance, and the com- 
mingling of commerce and culture gave to German- 
town an atmosphere not enjoyed by those who 
planted the settlement. 

With the advent and accumulation of gain came 
those luxuries which only wealth and its attendant 
desires are able to accommodate, and the severe sim- 

19 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

plicity of those who for conscience sake left the 
Fatherland to aid in the "holy experiment" and 
found a commonwealth, slowly gave way to an ex- 
panding era of change. 

There were writers of this period who give us 
other impressions. One of the most unsympathetic 
of these was Silas Deane, who in 1775 wrote : 

"Germantown consists of one street built 
mostly of rough stone, two miles nearly in length, 
and the houses resemble the appearance of the in- 
habitants, rough children of nature, and German na- 
ture too." This writer doubtless was an ancestral 
connection of Lewis Carroll, who, in "Hunting of 
the Snark," wrote, 

"The crew was Dutch, 
and behaved as such." 

But though rather uncomplimentary, Deane's 
account is extremely interesting, and as Townsend 
Ward reports him, is as follows : 

"The greatest improvement on nature is that 
on their groves, owing by no means to luxury, but 
to penury and want. The growth is red oak (quer- 
cus rubra), interspersed with black walnut (juglans 
nigra), etc. The poor are allowed to cut up the 
brush and trim the lower limbs; this leaves the 
groves in the most beautiful order you can imagine. 
All is clean on the ground; removing every shrub 
and bush, leaves the wind full play to sweep the 
floor, and the soil, by no means luxuriant, shooting 

20 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

up the trees rather sparingly, so much grass starts 
as to give a pale green carpet; while the trees are 
trimmed up ten to fifteen feet on their trunks, and 
give the eye a prospect far into the grove, and the 
footman or horseman free access." 

As we may readily imagine, the original Ger- 
mantown settlers were a busy people, so with the 
exception of Pastorius, Godfried Lehman, and a few 
others, we have little from them, and for our infor- 
mation we are obliged to depend upon visiting trav- 
elers. Ten years before the time of Deane's report 
Major Robert Rogers wrote thus of Philadelphia : 

"In short, scarce anything can afford a more 
beautiful landscape than this city and adjacent coun- 
try, which for some miles may be compared to a well 
regulated, flourishing garden, being improved, as I 
have been informed, to as great advantage as almost 
any lands in Europe." 

In 1799 Duke de la Rochefoucault described 
Germantown as "a long village near 2^^ miles in ex- 
tent. The houses to the number of about 300 are all 
built on the side of the highway, and are erected 
pretty close to each other." 

Of the planting of the people he wrote : 

"They raise a good deal of wheat, and still more 
Indian corn, but very little rye or oats." 

Rev. John C. Ogden, who visited here in the 
same year, describes the village in much the same 
way, and noted, "the road is muddy and dusty when 

21 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

rains or droughts prevail. The houses in German- 
town are very universally shaded with weeping wil- 
lows, the Lombardy poplar, and other ornamental 
trees. The gardens are under excellent cultivation, 
with valuable fields in their rear." 

Several visitors of importance we shall pass, for 
the purpose is merely to expose the line of contin- 
uity to enable us to form a better idea of the floral 
life of old Germantown, and with a recollection of 
Edward H. Bonsall, who, as Rev. S. F. Hotchkin 
reports, lived here from 1819 to 1835, we will turn 
aside into another path. Evidently the last-named 
was a poor observer, for he said, "in a circle of six 
miles with Chew's house as a centre, outside of Main 
street, there would not have been found 5 houses 
superior to an ordinary farm house," a statement so 
absurd as to require no consideration. 

This brings us to days which Robert Thomas 
and Joseph Murter, venerable residents living with 
us, remember, and we shall now endeavor to follow 
the development of our many fine estates enriched 
by mansions, gardens, rare shrubs and notable trees, 
and with these note as much as we possess or re- 
member of data and lore as may give promise of in- 
terest. 

To me it is extremely interesting that original 
holdings are yet held by families whose ancestors 
first occupied them, and I doubt if there be another 
settlement in America where uninterruptedly so 

22 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

many generations have occupied the same ground. 
Names which come readily to mind are Pastorius, 
Logan, Rittenhouse, Johnson, Keyser, and a group 
of other names of early settlers represented by the 
Wisters. Yet we have with us "Wyck," its original 
house built by Hans Millan its original settler, 
standing surrounded by its original garden, and its 
occupant and owner, Miss Jane R. Haines, a direct 
descendant of the first owner — a house whose only 
local competitor for age with the possible exceptions 
of Rock-House, and Naglee's Houses, — is the"Fraley 
House, clearly of later construction, which stands 
in what was once Dr. Christopher Witt's garden, 
later Miss Elizabeth C. Morris' garden, situated at 
the southeast corner of Main and High streets, a 
building which may be seen to the rear of Mrs. Far- 
num's charming latticed residence. 

Local history, to me at least, is alway alluring, 
and it is with difficulty that I hew to the proper line, 
the temptation being to venture a little more. But 
we shall leave Dr. Witt and these pleasant shades 
to follow in the footsteps of others perhaps less well 
known. 

By an unwritten law, observed from the days of 
Godfried Lehman to those of Charles F. Jenkins 
our latest guide, Germantown has been approached 
from the south by way of Main street, and a custom 
so honored I hope not to be the first to disturb. 
Many of us, indeed most of us, I think, are able to 

23 



GHRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

recall Germantown village of 2}^ miles or more, 
when the large buttonwood tree (platanus occiden- 
talis) at Naglee's house stood entire, shading on late 
afternoons "Turnpike Bridge" near; when horse- 
cars, ignoring schedule, halted at the temporarily 
deserted tree at the fork, in waiting for "Jake," who 
was somewhere out of sight northward on the hill, 
and no more in a hurry than those in the car, who 
looked upon as an unwarranted innovation a noisy 
train which passed to disturb their restful medita- 
tions; when laden wagons unfortunate jumped the 
track, seriously interfering with suburban traffic; 
when on "market days" long lines of wagons laden 
with hay, straw and other commodities numerous, 
twice a week struggled through and oft-times 
blocked the busy road. Time was, and that not long 
ago, when Charles J. Wister, the well-known be- 
loved father of Grumblethorpe's present owner, un- 
der the shade of his street trees, dined upon the side- 
walk, with none to wonder nor molest; and Cones- 
togas with other vehicles numerous, which James 
Stokes records, passed and repassed as naturally as 
present day trolleys, to whose inveterate clash and 
bang we have become accustomed. Those were the 
days when gardening was a pleasure if not an "art," 
and the planting of the good old plain gardeners, 
who never dreamed their calling would be elevated 
to a "science," is before us now to judge. 

24 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

At the house of Isaac Norris, until a generation 
ago standing on Germantown road, near Tenth 
street, and widely known as "Fairhill," was one of 
the finest gardens in the colonies. This garden was 
of the formal type, and "Francis Daniel Pastorius, 
of Germantown, himself a man of taste, pronounced 
Fair-hill garden the finest he had seen in the whole 
country," — so wrote Thompson Westcott in "His- 
toric Mansions" of Philadelphia, and this same 
writer continues : "Some of the trees and plants 
came from France. There were catalpas from the 
Southern States, and it was here were grown the 
first willow trees (salix alba) in Pennsylvania, the 
introduction of which is told by Franklin in his ac- 
count of noticing the sprouting of a willow which 
had been used in a basket which he saw on board a 
ship which came to a wharf on the Delaware. Frank- 
lin took the sprout, and presented it to Debby Nor- 
ris, who planted it, where it became the parent of 
many trees of the same species which have since 
become so common." 

There are many white willow trees about Ger- 
mantown, two fine specimens each with trunks 4 
feet in diameter by 70 feet in height, being located 
on East Coulter street, corner of Cumberland street ; 
but nearly all our best weeping willows (salix baby- 
lonica) have disappeared. Now no vestige remains 
of the rows of willows which lined both sides of 
Church lane, east of Willow avenue, notable trees 

25 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

which Thomas MacKellar described for Rev. S. F. 
Hotchkin. Under one of these trees, which stood 
prominently in the middle of the road, tradition 
says General Washington was accustomed to spend 
an evening hour in its shade. There yet remains to 
us, however, interesting willows near the entrance 
to Vernon, at Wyck, and several large and beautiful 
specimens are on the estate of Charles Weiss, East 
Washington lane, near Stenton avenue. 

As you may remember, the weeping willow is 
a native of China, and by the Dutch was introduced 
to Holland. By these same people it was also intro- 
duced to England, one of the first specimens in that 
country being planted at Hampton Court. 

Advancing northward by way of York road, we 
note on the grounds of J. Bertram Lippincott a fine 
white oak (quercus alba) with a trunk four feet in 
diameter and rising to a height of 80 feet. Here also 
is a specially fine white pine (pinus strobus), but 
there is hardly a place of importance in or near Ger- 
mantown where there are not conspicuous, if not 
great, white pine trees. It is a characteristic of a 
white pine that it dominates wherever it is, and a 
plant which at a distance appears to be of great pro- 
portions, near is found to be disappointingly ordi- 
nary. 

From "Solitude," located east of York road, 
south of Fisher's lane, the best plants have disap- 
peared. There yet, however, is a catalpa (catalpa 

26 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

bignonioides), having a trunk three feet in diameter 
and a height of forty feet ; a chestnut (castanea ves- 
ca), with a trunk of five feet in diameter and a height 
of 70 feet; a tulip poplar (liriodendron tulipifera), 4 
feet in diameter and 100 feet in height ; and a finely 
proportioned walnut (juglans nigra), 3 feet in diam- 
eter and 80 feet high. 

These trees are surpassed by others elsewhere, 
the walnut in particular being excelled by like trees 
on Morton street near High street, on Main street 
above Tulpehocken street, at Nutwold on East John- 
son street, — all superior plants, and by a wide 
branching tree of the same species overspreading a 
spring-house on the grounds of Frank Smyth, Wash- 
ington lane, east of Chew street, a specimen 6 feet 
in diameter and 90 feet high, I think by all odds the 
finest in Germantown. 

On Fisher's lane east of York road is an exceed- 
ingly fine white poplar (populus alba), having a 
trunk 48 inches in diameter and a height of 80 feet; 
and farther east on the same lane, with its lands 
bordering those of "York Farm," — the last Ameri- 
can home of Fanny Kemble, — is Champlost, a beau- 
tiful estate occupied by Miss Fox, where grow sev- 
eral of our finest plants, — but it, like other favored 
places near, being situated beyond our proper limits, 
we shall with this mention pass it, to stop at a wor- 
thy neighbor. 

27 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Bordering York road, above Logan Station, is 
"Clearfield," now "Fairfield," a plantation which 
Henry Drinker purchased in 1794, and so named be- 
cause "James Fisher has a place that has been called 
'Newington' for many years, 'twas thought best to 
change the name," wrote Elizabeth Drinker in her 
entertaining "journal." 

This plantation or farm was held for two years 
by the Drinkers, its mistress delighting in its occu- 
pation and rewards, recording its cherries ripe May 
17; describing an odd tulip (tulipa gesneriana), 
which grew in its garden, a plant "with 8 leaves, 
which I look upon as a curiosity, never having seen 
one before with more than 6 leaves," and continuing 
she noted, "a very beautiful place it is, how de- 
lighted and pleased would many women be with 
such a retreat." 

The beauty of Clearfield was appreciated by 
successive owners and care was taken for its pres- 
ervation. Although a railroad has cut the place in 
sections, and its collections are depleted, it yet pre- 
serves sufficient of merit to attract the most super- 
ficial plant observer. Here at the old mile-stone — 
"2 M. to R. S., 4 M. to P."— surrounded by high 
trees and ivy-covered, is its secluded mansion, which 
one approaches by box (buxus sempervirens) bor- 
dered walks, winding between borders of heavy 
shrubbery, and about are several conspicuous hem- 

28 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

lock (tstiga canadensis), beech (fagus ferruginea), 
and button-ball (plantanus occidentalis) trees. 

Near the upper entrance gate is a white pine, 
and beside the house a Norway spruce (picea excel- 
sa), both of strange development, and as odd as any 
of the grotesque growths I have seen at Wildwood, 
N. J., and elsewhere on the Atlantic coast. 

Here also is a curious Austrian pine (pinus 
Austriaca), with a depressed crown; an unusually 
fine specimen of Himalayan pine (pinus excelsa), 50 
feet in height, second only to pines of the same spe- 
cies at WilUam Rotch Wister's, Belfield avenue; at 
Justus Strawbridge's, School House lane and Wis- 
sahickon avenue, and at Caspar Heft's, Main street, 
near Manheim street, the latter a specimen which 
George Redles considers the best in our territory, 
but which I think is fairly equalled by a conspicu- 
ous rival at Cliveden. 

At "Fairfield" is a fine specimen of rare Japan 
cedar or cryptomeria (crpytomeria japonica), the 
acknowledged "queen of evergreens," 25 feet in 
height; also a fine white oak (quercus alba), 80 feet 
in height; a white or silver birch (betula alba), 40 
feet in height, the latter a fine plant, but not equal 
to specimens at Fern-hill and at E. W. Clark's, Wis- 
sahickon avenue and School House lane. Also here, 
as reported by Philip C. Garrett, the present occu- 
pant of Fairfield, for Mrs. Anne DeB. Mears — "over 
the upper spring-house is an ancient and famous 

29 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

catalpa tree pictured in the horticultural journals, 
which still bears its beautiful crop of blossoms every 
year," a tree yet vigorous, and near the mansion, 
between it and the road^,, is a fine cedar of Lebanon 
(cedrus libani), 50 feet in height. All these plants 
are prominent, and may be plainly seen from the 
road. 

"Stenton," once extending from Fisher's lane to 
Nicetown lane, from Germantown road to York 
road, and situated from "Fairfield" to the west, has 
been shorn of much of its wealth. A. J. Downing, 
who visited it, thus describes it in "Landscape Gar- 
dening" of 1849: "Stenton, near Germantown, four 
miles from Philadelphia, is a fine old place, with 
many picturesque features. The farm consists of 
700 acres, almost without division fences — admira- 
bly arranged — and remarkable for a grand old ave- 
nue of the hemlock spruce (abies canadensis), no 
years old, leading to a family cemetery of much syl- 
van beauty." 

This same "splendid avenue of hemlocks," de- 
scribed later by Townsend Ward, is no more, and 
of interest at Stenton now is but a tulip poplar, a 
large plane tree (platanus occidentalis), a few per- 
simmon trees (diospyrus virginiana) and a row of 
Lombardy poplars (populus dilatata), plants sur- 
passed by many with us, and by two plants of excep- 
tional merit, one a wide-spreading black walnut 
(juglans nigra), appearing to the south of the man- 

30 




George Redles 



GURMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

sion, and the other a notable elm (ulmus Ameri- 
cana), having a trunk 4 feet in diameter and a top 
spreading at a height of 120 feet, a plant which on 
part of Stenton grounds disposed of, may now be 
seen in the garden of Dr. William H.Hickok,at north- 
east comer of Eighteenth and Cayuga streets, a 
magnificent specimen said to have been mature in 
the days of James Logan and William Penn. 

Near-by and north of Stenton is "The Cedars," 
a green grove wherein Professor Stewardson Brown 
long dwelt, and where this gentleman informed me 
is a fine specimen of swamp magnolia (magnolia 
glauca), two rare yellow-flowering magnolias (mag- 
nolia fraseri), — a lemon-scented variety of great 
beauty, by many considered our finest magnolia, and 
a small tree of the always rare cedar of Lebanon. 
Here also are several fine specimens of swamp cy- 
press (taxodium distichium), familiarly known 
about Philadelphia as Bartram's cypress. 

Without exception, the finest grove of trees in 
Germantown is that in the midst of which "Wake- 
field," a near neighbor of Stenton and Fairfield, is 
situated — a grove composed of immense juniper 
(juniperus virginiana), chestnut (castanea Ameri- 
cana), white oak (quercus alba), red oak (quercus 
rubra), and tulip poplar (liriodendron tulipifera) 
trees. Here is a green-flowering cucumber tree 
(magnolia acuminata), perfectly proportioned, hav- 
ing a trunk 2 feet in diameter and a height of 30 

31 



GBRMANTOWN RARB AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

feet. Also here on the front lawn is a tulip poplar, 
measured by John Warr and George Redles, a tree 
5 feet in diameter of trunk, ivy-covered froni the 
ground to its first limb at 40 feet, and rising to a 
height of 130 feet, a noble specimen equal to cele- 
brated relatives growing on the Virginia mountains, 
where the species is said to attain its greatest devel- 
opment; truly a tree, especially when in bloom, de- 
serving Benjamin Franklin's appellation — "King of 
the American forests." 

Passing for the present "Little Wakefield," we 
halt in lower Fisher's lane to note a most interesting 
white oak (quercus alba), long familiar to me, but 
which I overlooked until directed again to it by 
George Redles. This is a rugged tree 4 feet in diam- 
eter trunk and 60 feet high, perfectly formed, and 
growing on the top of a rock it has cleft in twain. 

William E. S. Baker, in "Widow Seymour," ac- 
curately locates this tree "betweeen the Wakefield 
mills in Fisher's Hollow, close by the bank of the 
Wingohocken creek, and at the curve of the lane." 
"The immense flat-rock" which supports this tree 
is also associated with "Widow Seymour," and 
those of a poetic temperament may here find much 
of interest. Advancing to the elevation at Stenton 
avenue and Fisher's lane, we find before us at Mrs. 
M. H. Stiver's two of our finest trees, one a white 
oak, the other a red oak, each 4 feet in diameter and 
80 feet high, both plants perfectly shaped, and with 

32 



GBRMANTOWN RARB AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

huge wide-spreading limbs, covering an area equal 
to their height. 

Other fine specimens of oak we have are a group 
of three fine white oaks at Old Oaks Cemetery on 
Wissahickon avenue; a red oak at Stewart A. Jel- 
lett's "One Oak," Pulaski avenue, near Apsley 
street; a beautiful tree on the grounds of Francis B. 
Reeves, Clapier street and McKean avenue; our 
most striking and picturesque oak at Judge F. Car- 
roll Brewster's, Manheim street, near Wissahickon 
avenue ; a great white oak at Ivy Hill Cemetery, near 
Pennsylvania Railroad, a single finely developed 
specimen 5 feet in diameter and 100 feet high ; and 
if not the largest, one of the finest, and certainly our 
most interesting oak planted by John Wister in 1813, 
and now adorning Vernon Park, 

There are several fine trees on Fisher's lane, but 
we shall now stop only at T. Charlton Henry's place, 
where Alexander Lawson was long gardener, to 
record an exceedingly fine copper beech, and a cen- 
tury plant (agave Americana), which here bloomed 
a few years ago. 

Retracing our steps through Wister's woods, 
we pass a declivity on which once grew a celebrated 
memorial beech. This tree stood to the north of 
Fisher's lane and Wakefield street, and through age 
and abuse came to its end in the year 1870. The 
Germantown Telegraph, January 29 of the named 
year, gave an account of this venerable and vener- 

33 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOT ABLE PLANTS 

ated tree. Near the earth its trunk was 3 feet in di- 
ameter, and "many very ancient scars and markings 
were on its surface, and among them within an es- 
cutcheon, deeply engraved and quite legible, were 
the initials D. L. W., 1771," cut there by Daniel and 
Lowry Wister. It is a pleasure to note that this in- 
teresting work has been preserved, and is now 
among the treasures of "Grumblethorpe." 

Continuing through Wister's wood, a place 
where its late owner loved to roam, we note near 
the upper spring an odd twin growth, to which 
Charles T. Macarthur, superintendent of the Ger- 
mantown Gas Works near by, directed my attention. 
Here are two trees, one a red oak and the other a 
tulip poplar, which for several feet together grow as 
one, resembling a unity of two species, I discovered 
growing on Dark Run lane, near the Asylum pike, 
some years ago. 

Following the Wingohocken Valley southward 
we round the point to "Mill" or "Valley creek," and 
on our left find "Little Wakefield," the home of 
Ellicott Fisher, where a number of chestnut, butter- 
nut and tulip poplar trees of fair proportions may be 
observed, but not any of which are equal to the lofty 
vigorous specimens appearing on "Wakefield's" 
bank to the right, where sturdy oaks, not observable 
from the front, here impressively stand. "Belfield 
Homestead, with its famous coffee tree and lovely 
boulevard of maples," now appear • before us a per- 

34 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

feet haven of rest, its most prominent plants thus 
referred to by W. E. S. Baker, standing conspicuous 
above a bordering wealth of vegetation. Here also 
are superior specimens of Juniper, ailanthus, dog- 
wood, and Judas trees, the last two being among the 
finest productions of our American forests. 

From the valley we turn into Thorp's lane, 
once a gem of rural beauty, but now sadly changed, 
to view a beautiful avenue of silver maple (acer 
dasycarpum) extending from the main entrance to 
the mansion where Fanny Kemble wrote "My chil- 
dren were born, my first and only American home." 
In "Records of Later Life" the same gifted author, 
under date of 1837, notes : "The other day, for the 
first time, I explored my small future domain, which 
is bounded on the right by the high road, on the left 
by a not unromantic little mill-stream with bits of 
rock, and cedar bushes, and dams, and, I am sorry 
to say, a very picturesque, half-tumbled-down fac- 
tory; on the north by fields and orchards of our 
neighbors, and another road; and on the south by a 
pretty, deep, shady lane, running from the high road 
to the above-mentioned factory. There are four 
pretty pasture meadows, and a very pretty piece of 
woodland, which coasting the stream and mill-dam, 
will, I foresee, become a favorite haunt of mine." 

"The Farm" or "Butler Place" yet contains 
many notable plants, though the "row of old acacia 
trees near the house" was removed, and "a double 

35 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

row of 200 trees planted along the side of the place" 
show wear. The latter, however, is of great interest 
to us, for in spite of an acknowledged "combined ig- 
norance" a majority of these plants have lived, and 
from "York Farm" in 1874 Fanny Kemble wrote: 
"The trees I planted along the low enclosure hedge 
of Butler Place, 30 years ago, stretch their branches 
and throw their shadows half over the road which 
divides the places." 

Though exceedingly pleasurable, we may not 
linger here too long, and to all interested in German- 
town and its associations, I suggest the reading of 
"Records of Later Life" and "Further Records," 
both books of great interest, and mainly produced 
at "Butler Place" and "York Farm." 

There are many avenues of silver maples (acer 
dasycarpum) worthy of record with us, among them 
being one in Town Hall Park, another at the Pu- 
laski avenue approach to "Fern-hill," and also that 
leading to the Pinckney homestead, where Judge 
William D. Kelly, and later, Charles W. Brinley 
once lived. 

Other striking maple-lined avenues may be seen 
at Justus C. Strawbridge's, School House lane and 
Wissahickon avenue, at Samuel Welsh's, West 
School House lane, both of great beauty; also that 
of Garrett's Hill on our main street, with others nu- 
merous; and on Norwood avenue, extending from 
Chestnut avenue to Sunset avenue, Chestnut Hill, is 

36 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

one beyond compare. At Butler Place the hemlock 
(tsuga canadensis) hedge continues of more than 
ordinary merit, but it is equalled by a vigorous old 
hedge belonging to Dr. R. W. Deaver, — Main street 
and Walnut lane, and is surpassed by a notable 
hedge of the same species at Thomas P. Galvin's 
grounds, West Walnut lane, and by the remarkable 
hedges of "Fern-hill." Other plants at Butler Place 
worthy of notice are a black walnut and a coflfee 
tree, both of immense size and majestic proportions. 
Distributed throughout our territory are many large 
and beautiful coflfee trees (gymnoclaudus canaden- 
sis). One of these may be seen at Dr. I. Pearson 
Willit's, on West Walnut lane; another holds its 
place in Vernon Park ; and a specially fine specimen 
stands before the Welsh mansion at Spring-Bank. 

At Dr. George De Benneville's "Silver Pine 
Farm" is a group of white pine (pinus strobus), 
which if not the largest is at least the most imposing 
one among us. These trees are nine in number, are 
about two feet in diameter trunk, rise to a height of 
from 80 to ICO feet, and their shattered arms are 
familiar to every frequenter of Branchtown by way 
of Green lane or York road. As these trees gave 
name to the place, so we may refer to a farm house- 
like structure which once stood where Masonic Hall 
now stands on Main street near St. Luke's Church, 
a house in 1832 the home of Bronson Alcott, and the 
birthplace of Louisa M, Alcott — which from a group 

37 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

of trees before it, became known as "Silver Pine Cot- 
tage." 

In this same cottage, while rector of St. Luke's 
Church, Rev. B. Wistar Morris also dwelt, and this 
in a measure may account for his love of "Oregon 
pines," though his old-time neighbors say he Was 
elected bishop for quite another reason. 

Conspicuous specimens of white pine, in some 
respects our most impressive tree, may be seen at 
Loudoun, at Toland's, at Henry's, all near Naglee's 
Hill ; at Fern-hill, at George Blight's and Dr. James 
Gardette's on Wissahickon avenue; at Manheim, 
where there is a beautiful tree three feet in diameter 
and 90 feet high ; at Carlton on Indian Queen lane ; 
at Armstrong's on Duy's lane, and at almost every 
place on School House lane from John Alburger's, 
near Greene street, to William Weightman's, near 
the "Falls ;" at Jacob A. Datz's, Stenton avenue and 
Mill street, and at Alfred Williams', near by ; at Old 
School, County line and Limekiln pike; at Voll- 
mer's. East Washington lane ; at Upsala and Luther- 
an Seminary — indeed, so many and so generally dis- 
tributed are these beautiful plants that it is needless 
to further enumerate. 

At Butler's Place is an odd white pine, which 
curiously at a height of 40 feet had its terminal bud 
destroyed, the result being the development of a 
trinity of side buds. In like manner there is also 
a remarkable specimen at Philip Guckes' on West 

38 



GHRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

School House lane, a tree 2j4 feet in diameter by 70 
feet high. This tree's terminal bud at 40 feet eleva- 
tion having- been destroyed, two side shoots were 
developed, which each sturdily rose to an additional 
height of 30 feet. 

Without exception, the finest and most perfect 
white pine in our district is a plant growing on a 
knoll on "Perot's Farm," now Northwood Cemetery. 
This tree has a trunk 2j4 feet in diameter, rises to a 
height of 70 feet, has a spread of 40 feet, and is vig- 
orous, perfect and very beautiful. 

At "Outalauna," the residence of Joseph Whar- 
ton, is an exceedingly fine silver poplar (populus 
alba), and near at "Bonneval Cottage," the home of 
Mrs. Anne de Benneville Mears, are two immense 
buttonwood trees (platanus occidentalis) with 
trunks 4 feet in diameter, each with a height of 100 
feet, and 40 feet spread. In "Old York Road," Mrs. 
Mears, writing of "Bonneval Cottage," states "it 
was surrounded by a fine lawn and in front still 
stands one of the sycamore trees whose age is over 
300 years, and its companion was planted by Dr. 
George De Benneville, St., in 1768." 

With us continue many notable buttonwood 
trees, although all our home trees are inferior to 
specimens growing in more favorable locations. 
On Pawling Road near Audubons' "Millgrove" 
stands a magnificent plane tree, and Governor S. W. 
Pennypacker recently wrote me, "there is a button- 

39 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

wood tree on an island in the Perkiomen at Rahns' 
Station which is lo feet in diameter, the largest tree 
I know." In Case's Botanical Index, Page 46, there 
was recorded in 1880 a buttonwood tree growing in 
Greene county, Indiana, having a trunk 16 feet in 
diameter, and which rose with a clear trunk 25 feet, 
the altitude reached being 160 feet, and plane trees 
much greater than this are known. 

It would be futile to name all our worthy speci- 
mens, far or near, so I shall without mention pass 
many to locate a few which more directly appeal to 
us. Many of us may recall the buttonwood 3 feet 
in diameter and 80 feet high which once stood at 
Main street and School House lane, and we all 
may remember the buttonwood tree within the 
gate to our "Earthly Paradise," and whose 
denuded trunk stands to remind us of days 
when settlers first took up ground on "side land 
lots." Here with an additional story of recent 
growth is Naglee's house, where James Logan for 
a season dwelt, a building like the "Rock House," a 
venerable survivor and typical representative of the 
stone houses of early Germantown. 

Recently we have lost one of two well-known 
sycamore trees at Mechlin's or Wagner's, and the 
tree continuing is but a reminder of its former great- 
ness. Another interesting specimen on Main street is 
that on the grounds of William Heft, a tree 5^ feet 
in diameter and 80 feet high, one of two trees which 

40 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

changed the name of a public house once here from 
"Ye Roebuck Inn" to "Buttonwood Hotel." Though 
often so asserted by over-zealous loyalists, these trees 
were not planted "by Philadelphia's first mayor," 
but by "Andrew Garret, who carried them from the 
banks of the Schuylkill, and here set them in place, 
as "The Guide" some years ago instructed us. An- 
drew Garret may be remembered as an eccentric 
character, who during the latter part of the eigh- 
teenth century had a dwelling on Indian Queen lane, 
near the "Falls." Here he lived alone, and by rob- 
bers Avas one night foully murdered, a sufficient 
warning, let us hope, to all of like preferment. 

Other interesting buttonwood trees are located 
at the pump on Manheim street, where there is a 
specimen 4 feet in diameter by 80 feet high ; at Man- 
heim near the club house, where is an odd-shaped 
specimen having a short trunk 4 feet in diameter, 
and awkwardly branching limbs rising to a height 
of 100 feet; at Friends' grounds on Main street, 
where is a rare tree 4 feet in diameter by 60 feet 
high; and another specimen at Market Square, now 
only of interest because it was planted by Samuel B. 
Morris ; at Dr. Ashton's on West School House lane, 
where there is a majestic tree, and several others 
worthy a visit are in this immediate neighborhood. 
Rare specimens may also be seen at spring-house on 
Cresheim road, above Allen's lane; at William 
Dewees spring-house at the bend in the upper Wis- 

41 



GBRMANTOWN RARE'AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

sahickon, where grow two fine specimens; at 
"Spring Bank," the residence of John Welsh, where 
is a perfect plant, 4 feet in diameter and 100 feet 
high; and two trees in Wissahickon avenue, near 
"Fern-hill" entrance, one 6 feet in diameter, 100 feet 
rise, with a spread of 80 feet, and the other about its 
equal, are the finest plane trees we have. 

At National Cemetery, Haines street and Lime- 
kiln pike, are many beautiful trees, though but few 
of unusual size or rarity. Here are fair specimens 
of ginko (salisburia adiantifolia), but not equal to 
the ginkos of Edward Hacker, Wister street; 
Charles J. Wister, Main street; Lloyd Mifflin, Penn 
street; Benjamin H. Shoemaker, Mill street; and 
that of Alfred C. Harrison, at Thorp's lane, Chest- 
nut Hill. Larch (larix Americana), but surpassed 
by the larch of David Pancoast at High and Bayn- 
ton streets, by that of "Fairfield," of "Upsala," and 
several others. Silver birch and other trees of supe- 
rior merit are here, and also here is a fine white pine, 
while in sight is a number of specimens of the same 
species at Middleton's on Limekiln pike. Among 
the best plants at National Cemetery is an arbor 
vitae (thuja occiden talis) group of 12 feet in diame- 
ter spread and a 30-feet height, and an exceedingly 
fine specimen of retinospora plumosa. 

Several years ago there were several fine trees 
on Christopher Ludwig's farm, Haines street, near 
Chew street, but the best of these have disappeared, 

42 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOT ABLE PLANTS 

and there now remains but mediocre plane and wal- 
nut trees to halt us at the house of Washington's 
doughty baker general, who spent here several years 
of his honest Hfe, and who from his "labors" rests 
in St. Michael's Lutheran Churchyard. Opposite 
"Ludwig Farm" is "Awbury," containing the homes 
of John S. Haines, Thomas P. Cope, Francis R. Cope 
and other members of well-known families of Hke 
name, where are many rare and beautiful plants. 
From "High Street Station" which was, there ex- 
tended to the Cope houses a rustic walk shaded by 
a double row of silver maples, and this shortened 
continues to remind one of the celebrated "walks" 
of Addison at Oxford and Milton at Cambridge. 
Shielding Haines street, east of Chew street, is a row 
of specially fine scarlet maple (acer rubrum) trees 
now in bloom, and at "John Haines' gate" grow tw@ 
fine elm trees, each having a trunk 2^ feet in diam- 
eter, a height of 60 feet and a spread of 80 feet, en- 
tirely covering the entrance to this most inviting 
place. 

With us are several fine elm trees (ulmus Amer- 
icana), one being on the grounds of Charles Edward 
Pancoast, East Johnson street, — another is in the 
"Concord graveyard," and two very beautiful weep- 
ing elms of the Galena type on Chew street, oppo- 
site Church street, shade the entrance to Meehans' 
nurseries. 

43 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Not long ago several of our largest trees were 
to be found at Old Oaks Cemetery, grounds once a 
part of John Tucker's "plantation." This burying 
ground was located on Township Line road, and ex- 
tended from near the toll-gate at McKean's hill to 
the railroad, south. Here was a number of immense 
chestnut trees, but the finest have been destroyed, 
as was also an immense chestnut ii^ feet in diam- 
eter, which once stood on the grounds of Moses 
Brown, School House lane, near the "Falls." Our 
best, however, did not class with trees elsewhere. 
At Hereford, Bucks county. Pa., there is, or was, 
standing on the farm of James Schlegel a chestnut 
tree 8% feet in diameter, 90 feet high, and said to be 
200 years old. At James A. Wright's place on 
Township Line road, near Clapier street, is an im- 
posing grove of great chestnut, silver maple and oak 
trees ; at "Carlton," Indian Queen lane, is a number 
of chestnut trees of immense girth, but of no great 
height, storm riven and impressive; but perhaps 
our largest chestnut trees are located on the grounds 
of Thomas P. C. Stokes and Dr. George Straw- 
bridge, Wissahickon avenue, near Frank street. 

"Fernhill," which from "Old Oaks" appears on 
an elevation before us, is slowly but surely losing its 
choicest plants, and during a recent visit there with 
George Redles, John F. Sibson, its efficient manager, 
attributed its losses to noxious gases proceeding 
from the steel works near by. Here, in addition to 

44 





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GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

plants previously noted, are superior specimens of 
barberry (berberis vulgaris), weeping dog- wood 
(cornus F. variety pendula), common beech (fagus 
ferruginea), a fine specimen of Virginian fringe tree 
(chionanthus Virginica), and a larch of perfect pro- 
portions, 2 feet in diameter and 40 feet high. To 
compare with these, along Wingohocken creek, im- 
mediately north of the "Rocky Mountains" in Mee- 
hans' nurseries, is a grove of fringe trees very beau- 
tiful when in flower, and at Manheim there is a mag- 
nificent larch, 2 feet in diameter of trunk, rising to 
a height of 80 feet. 

The finest larch in Germantown once stood on 
the grounds of Hugh McLean, corner of Carpenter 
lane and Cresheim road, but this great tree a few 
years ago unfortunately met its fate. 

At Thomas Jones', Manheim street and Wissa- 
hickon avenue, is a holly (ilex opaca) 15 feet high, 
with a spread of 15 feet, a beautiful specimen, but 
equaled by two notable plants at Vernon, and sur- 
passed by Wister Price's specimen on Manheim 
grounds, a tree having a trunk i^ feet in diameter, 
25 feet high, with a branch spread of 20 feet. Here 
also is a rare virgilia, the first, and once the finest 
specimen in cultivation, — a tree now showing the 
ravages of old age, but none the less interesting. 
A virgilia younger (cladrastis tinctoria), vigorous 
and beautiful, overhangs the gate of "Grumble- 

45 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

thorpe," Main street, opposite Queen street, and is 
the best of its species I know in our territory. 

The charms of "Caernarvon" have flown, but 
Manheim possesses a beauty of its own, one of its 
many attractions being the finest group of rhodo- 
dendrons (rhododendron maximum) in German- 
town. The neighborhood of "Manheim" to me is of 
great interest, but we may not stop to consider its 
historic associations nor to refer to all its plants 
worthy of notice. 

By far the finest silver maple in Germantown 
stood on the grounds of Louis Clapier Baumann, at 
corner of Manheim and Henry streets. This fine 
tree some years ago I measured, and when it was 
felled to make way for improvements, these meas- 
urements were verified by John Holt. The tree was 
perfect in every particular, of commanding height, 
and was a notable landmark of Manheim street. An 
account of this plant I prepared for "Forest Leaves," 
of June, 1897, wherein it is described as being 138 
feet in height. At half its altitude it had a spread of 
35 feet on every side of the main trunk, and at i foot 
above the ground the trunk was 4 1-3 feet in diame- 
ter. 

We have many fine specimens of silver maple 
continuing, and one of the finest stands on Cres- 
heim road, near Gorgas street. Another appears to 
the rear of Dr. John D. Godman's house. Main street, 
opposite Pastorius street. Another, and once a very 

46 




L. C. Baumann 



GHRMANTOW N RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

striking plant, one of a row of trees planted in the 
year 1848 by Robert Haines when the street was 
opened, stands at the corner of West Walnut lane 
and Adams street, but this tree a few years ago was 
visited by marauders and now it is but a relic of its 
former greatness. At "The Corvy," the residence 
of William Wynne Wister, there are several silver 
maples, not specially great, but of interest because 
they are directly on Main street and shade the house 
where Gilbert Stuart lived. 

It is recorded that Jacques Marie Roset who 
lived on the upper side of Manheim street, adjoining 
James R. Gates' lumber yard,— and not at "Spring 
Alley," as has oft been reported,— had a beautiful 
garden, the products of which it is said he loved to 
distribute, one of his recipients being Fanny Kem- 
ble, who from her home on York road frequently 
passed this way on driving trips, a recreation she 
always loved. It is also recorded that Roset first 
introduced tomatoes to Germantown, but this does 
not appear to be correct, for the credit belongs, I 
think, to E. B. Gardette, whose place on Wissa- 
hickon avenue, opposite Manheim street, is marked 
by three notable pine trees rising to a height of 80 
feet. 

This gentleman came to America during the 
Revolutionary period, and it is said his gardener first 
grew the tomato (lycopersicum esculentum), or love 
apple, for the color of its fruit. Melons or cante- 
47 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

loupes were also first raised here, it has been stated, 
but this I have never been able to verify, "for the 
seed of the canteloupe was brought to this country 
from Tripoli and distributed by Commodore James 
Barron," so I give the credit for what it is worth. 

This, however, I know, Philip R. Freas, a neigh- 
bor of Commodore Barron, had a canteloupe patch 
which the "brickyard" boys well knew, and about it 
I doubt not Philip Walters, and George Redles — 
who having reached years of discrimination, has now 
no need to ask if it be "true that horses when old 
never lie down" — can tell you more than I. 

Baumann's great maple grew on ground which 
once belonged to "White Cottage," an estate at one 
time owned by the Logans. Here lived Dr. Samuel 
Betton, who was succeeded by his son. Dr. Thomas 
Forrest Betton, the friend of Rafinesque, and here 
under Samuel Betton, its present occupant and 
owner, William Kulp, well known to many of us, 
has been many years gardener. Recent changes 
have robbed "White Cottage" of its seclusion, but 
with it yet continue many beautiful ivy-dressed 
trees, which spread their branches over the grounds, 
in season almost shielding the house from view. 

Near General Wayne Hotel, on Manheim street, 
is a specially fine ailanthus (ailanthus glandules us) 
2j^ feet in diameter of trunk, with a height of 50 
feet, and at the Keyser-Rodney House, Main and 
Duval streets, and on Garrett's Hill, opposite Lovett 

4B 



GBRMANTOWN RARB AND NOT ABLE PLANTS 

Library, are conspicuous superior specimens. Also 
on Manheim street, near Main street, is a honey- 
locust tree (gleditschia triacanthos) with a trunk 
3 feet in diameter by 80 feet high, and larger and 
finer specimens are on Pulaski avenue, near Sey- 
mour street, and in front of Michael Schlatter's 
stone house. Main street, near where the road turns 
off for "Wheel Pump," Chestnut Hill. 

At "Carlton" is a magnificent beech (fagus fer- 
ruginea) 3 feet in diameter of trunk, with a height 
of 60 feet and a spread of 40 feet, the finest speci- 
men I know in our territory. We have many fine 
beeches, one being at "Awbury," and another at 
Miss Nixon's, on East Tulpehocken street. There 
are also exceedingly fine specimens at George L. 
Harrison's, on West School House lane ; at William 
Heft's, on Main street; at "Fernhill," and at places 
elsewhere, too many to name. 

By George Redles my attention was directed to 
a large dogwood (cornus Florida) growing near 
Queen Lane basin, and there true to Hfe, between 
the basin and Midvale avenue, may be seen a nota- 
ble specimen i>^ feet in diameter by 20 feet high, 
with a spread of 20 feet, and here are two sassafras 
trees (sassafras officinalis) 2 feet in diameter by 40 
feet high, both notable plants, one, however, sur- 
passing the other in form. These are remarkable 
plants, and stand on historic ground, once part of 
"Carlton." 

49 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Here the army of Washington was encamped, 
and here during an encampment of the Civil War 
Joseph Meehan, botanist and horticulturist, active 
among us, first did "picket duty." Here also is a 
tulip poplar, 4 feet in diameter and 100 feet high, 
not equal to Wakefield's notable specimen, but yet 
a plant of great merit. 

We have many superior tulip poplars, one 4 feet 
in diameter and 100 feet high being at "Woodside," 
Edward T. Steel's residence on West School House 
lane; another on John Wagner's grounds on the 
same lane being 5 feet in diameter and 60 feet high. 
There are also several fine tulip poplars at Thomas 
MacKellar's, on Shoemaker's lane, but the finest 
specimen here, like the Blair linden at Main street 
and Walnut lane, has been despoiled. 

At "Torworth," the residence of Justus C. 
Strawbridge, and also at "Blathewood," Joseph S. 
Lovering's place adjoining, we have very fine speci- 
mens of hemlock (tsuga canadensis), as indeed we 
have in many parts of Germantown, but our finest 
hemlock trees are in "the Wissahickon," where almost 
the entire southern bank of its romantic stream is 
fringed by this refreshing tree, and wherein are 
groups of groves above Kitchen's or Garsed's lane, 
above Allen's lane, at Devil's Pool, beside Megar- 
gee's dam, and near Rex avenue, plants ranging 
from i^ to 2 feet in trunk diameter and from 60 to 
80 feet in height. Also near Rex avenue bridge is a 

50 




Hemlock Grove near Kitchens Lane 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

specimen hemlock of graceful proportions, having a 
trunk 2^/2 feet in diameter and rising to a height of 
TOO feet. 

Among our most interesting plants are the 
native "Jersey pines," which appear sparingly about 
Germantown. With us are two varieties, that on 
School House lane opposite Gypsy lane, and others 
in the same neighborhood extending to the mouth 
of the Wissahickon, are technically known as pinus 
inops. 

At Walnut lane and Wissahickon avenue is a 
specimen of pinus rigida one foot in diameter and 
30 feet high. At James A. Mason's, near Upsal 
Station, is a group of pinus inops. At Thomas' Mill 
road on the Wissahickon, and eastward on the same 
road in the open above Towanda street, are from 
one to two hundred pinus rigida, interesting survi- 
vors of a flora supplanted. On Stenton avenue, near 
Bethesda Home, we have an isolated group of pinus 
inops, and at County Line road and Limekiln pike, 
also on Mt. Airy avenue near Main street are soli- 
tary specimens of the same species. Interesting 
specimens are also distributed throughout Chestnut 
Hill. 

The Wissahickon is covered by numerous valu- 
able plants, but of these a majority is too densely 
crowded to develop to the best advantage. Several 
years ago Thomas Meehan in Meehans' Monthly, 
asked for data of sassafras trees, the text-books and 

51 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

general information agreeing that the average 
height of mature specimens of this plant to be 30 
feet. At "SoHtude," and at the "Indian Mound" on 
E. W. Clark's grounds. School House lane, there are 
specimens rising to a greater than this height, and 
at Tulpehocken and Musgrave streets were twin 
specimens, one now surviving, exceeding this height, 
and finely formed. Near the "Suicide's Grave," 
north of Rabbit lane, George Redles informed me 
there is a specially fine specimen, and for the knowl- 
edge of an immense specimen on McCallum street, 
near Carpenter's lane, I am indebted to Joseph Mee- 
han. In the Wissahickon, near Thorp's lane, I meas- 
ured a slender specimen 80 feet in height, but the 
finest plants of this species I know were those meas- 
ured for me by Joseph Heacock, two plants growing 
near Media, each three feet in diameter and 80 feet 
high. 

About home we have numerous and exceed- 
ingly fine specimens of juniper (juniperus virgin- 
iana). Almost wherever one goes these may be 
observed — along the borders of the Wissahickon, 
at "Bummers' Cave" on Stenton avenue, on Chew 
street north of Johnson street, a place known to 
Ellwood Johnson as "Vinegar Hill," and at Tulpe- 
hocken street and Wingohocken creek. This latter 
tree has a trunk 3 feet in diameter and is 35 feet 
high. A short time ago it was a healthy, beautiful 
specimen, but now it is partly or wholly dead, a 

52 




Wissahickon Pines 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 



plant when in its prime approached in my knowl- 
edge only by two like it which grow on Sumney- 
town pike, near "Indian Creek Meeting." At Rob- 
erts Le Boutillier's on East Washington lane, and 
elsewhere near, there are many other specimens 
worthy of record, but space and time details and 
elaboration forbid. 

The deep frost of last winter played havoc with 
many plants, partly or wholly destroying box, ivy 
and other evergreens not usually affected. The cele- 
brated evergreen magnolia (magnolia grandiflora) 
at Lippincott's, Broad and Sansom streets, Phila- 
delphia, entirely dropped its leaves ; in many ponds 
all the fish were killed, and losses in other directions 
one may not yet undertake to estimate. Untouched, 
however, we have many box-bordered garden walks, 
such as may be seen at "White Cottage," at "Grum- 
blethorpe," at "Wyck," at Spring Bank, at William 
M. Bayard's on upper Main street; formal designs 
set in green like those at Robert S. Newhall's, Main 
and Gorgas streets ; but the most elaborate and most 
perfect of our box borders are those adorning the 
garden of George C. Thomas, at Blue Bell Hill, pro- 
tected by beautiful hedges of osage orange, arbor 
vitae and neatly clipped hemlock. 

I never pass "Spring-bank" without thinking of 
John Welsh, its late and honored owner. Here I 
often saw him walking "in the cool of the day" un- 
der the shade of the "glorious" trees which line the 

53 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

front of the estate, and always excepting Grumble- 
thorpe and Wyck, there is not to me in Germantown 
a more delightful spot. Here we have already noted 
a few plants, and we shall stop only to look at a 
perfect tulip poplar, 3 feet in diameter at trunk, with 
branches rising to 80 feet, a tree vouched for by 
Martin Constabel the gardener as "planted by John 
Welsh himself," also here is a specimen oak now 20 
feet high, the acorn producing which N. Dubois Mil- 
ler told me was brought from Jerusalem and here 
grown. In this direction we shall now go no 
farther, but will southward turn, and by way of 
Main street which we left at Stenton, proceed to a 
conclusion. Naglee's and "Joe Nafle's" we shall 
pass, and the Loudoun pines we have already noted. 
Since the days of John Hart at Loudoun, 
progress has here forced its way, and many 
fine plants, including those on the adjoining 
grounds of James S. Huber, have retreated be- 
fore its irresistible advance, and the great 
tree on the hill equipped with a swing, also an 
immense tulip poplar near, like "Green's meadow" 
and Toland's spring — implanted in the memory of 
every "Smearsburg" girl and boy of the last genera- 
tion, — are gone forever. Toland's and Wagner's 
and Henry's are holding out "like grim death," but 
it is only a question of time when "Wayne Junction" 
shall overwhelm them. 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

It is a pity I have often thought that fruit trees 
are not more often planted for shade, and native 
sweet-scented flowering plants for bloom, in a meas- 
ure to bring the best of orchards and woods to home, 
and thus more directly beauty and utility combine. 
Our wood plants without exception may be readily 
grown if removed at a suitable time and properly 
planted, and I have never had failure in growing 
laurel (kalmia latifolia), arbutus (epigaea repens), 
and other of our native plants usually considered 
difficult or impossible to transplant. 

Those of us familiar with Main street and Chel- 
ten avenue 25 years ago may remember "Tinker" 
Frey's famous swamp magnolia (magnolia glauca). 
This is no more, but we have now at George Redles' 
on Wister street ; at Dr. Herman Burgin's on West 
Chelten avenue; at John P. Ilsley's, East Walnut 
lane ; also near Christ's Church rectory on West Tul- 
pehocken street; fine specimens of this common in 
New Jersey swamps, but rare in cultivation, plant. 

Virginian fringe tree, perfectly hardy, and a 
very beautiful plant in bloom, although we have sev- 
eral fine specimens, is not common enough in gar- 
dens, exceptions not subject to this criticism being 
conspicuous and notable plants on the grounds of 
Dillwyn Wistar, Wayne street near Coulter street; 
Samuel Emlen, Coulter street near Greene street; 
and William M. Bayard, Main street near Carpen- 
ter lane. Fringe tree appears spontaneously as far 

55 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

north as the southern counties of New Jersey, and 
several years ago it was found by Joseph Meehan 
in the woods near Millville, though before this, it 
had been collected in the same district by Dr. J. B. 
Brinton. These, with Judas tree (cercis canaden- 
sis), elder-berry, (sambucus canadensis) and our 
native dogwoods in variety, are but a few of many 
worthy native plants, but enough I hope, to direct 
attention to the subject. 

A creeping yew (taxus adpressa) appears in 
front of "Conyngham House" or "Hacker House," 
Main street, opposite Bringhurst street, but is not 
equal to the famous plant once at Upsala, yet, how- 
ever, there is a most beautiful specimen of this rare 
evergreen in the garden of Edward Hacker on Wis- 
ter street. On grounds to the rear of Conyngham 
House are several valuable plants for data of which 
I am indebted to Miss Howell. 

Here was one of "the first wild flower gardens" 
of later Germantown, containing plants from many 
parts of the United States, but a garden of which 
onl}^ a trace now remains. Also here is "the finest 
grove of over-cup oaks (quercus macrocarpa) about, 
so Thomas Meehan always said," "and a specimen of 
strange weeping oak" (quercus pendula). 

"Grumblethorpe," one of our most familiar 
homes, is now before us, and its plants are second 
only to its other possessions. Its occupant and 
owner is Charles J. Wister, to whom credit earned 

56 




Charles J. Wister 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

fully given would seem but empty flattery. Here 
all his long life lived Charles J. Wister, the father, 
a man whom his neighbor, John Jay Smith, pro- 
nounced "the greatest botanist living," and here 
amidst the sanctity of its associations lives the son, 
a most worthy successor. Quoting from an article 
written several years ago by William E. Meehan, 
which is sufficiently full for our purpose, there is 
growing at "Grumblethorpe" "a number of interest- 
ing trees, among them three old pear trees, two late 
Catherine and one sugar pear. There are records 
to show that these trees are about 150 years old. 
The sugar pear, which still bears abundantly, is 50 
or 60 feet high, and has a girth of six feet. An aged 
ivy has completely overgrown the trunk and has 
climbed almost to the topmost branches. A very 
fine specimen of the famous larch of the Alps, fa- 
miliar to every student of Swiss Alpine scenery, is 
also growing on these grounds. This tree, knotted 
and gnarled with age, has a trunk 5^ feet in cir- 
cumference, and the tree is probably the finest of its 
kind around the city." 

A Japanese ginko tree, 36 inches in diameter of 
trunk, 50 feet high and exceedingly fine, — a speci- 
men among the first importations of this plant, and 
almost equal to the celebrated tree at "Woodlands," 
is here, and it may be well to add this is the first re- 
corded ginko in America to fruit. Both the Wister 
and woodland specimens, however, are inferior to 

S7 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE, PLANTS 

a magnificent ginko 3 feet in diameter of trunk, 80 
feet high, standing on the grounds of Moses Brown, 
School House lane, near "the bend in the road," this 
being without exception the finest "maiden-hair" 
tree I know. "About 1830 Charles J. Wister planted 
one of the first ailanthus (ailanthus glandulosus) 
brought from China. This is one of the most rapid 
growers of any known tree, and has attained a 
height of over 70 feet, and has a girth of 12 feet 2 
inches." 

Here also is a rare specimen of papaw (asimina 
triloba), a tree equaled only by a plant of the same 
kind at Vernon, and another at "Wyck," 12 inches in 
diameter by 40 feet high. "A gray or silver poplar 
(populus alba), introduced about the latter part of 
the last century from Italy, is also growing in Mr. 
Wister's grounds. Its trunk measures 10 feet 4 
inches, and its branches cover a great area of 
ground," its height being 80 feet. Also at 
Grumblethorpe grow a number of exceedingly 
fine figs (ficus carica), but these like a noted group 
of similar plants at Fern-hill are usually protected 
in winter. Without protection, however, and in the 
vigor of a well-rounded maturity is here a finely 
proportioned orange tree (citrus trifoliata) 8 feet 
in height, and beside it is a swamp magnolia appear- 
ing as natural as though itstood on its "native heath," 
while overshadowing the mansion near, are beauti- 
ful specimens of overcup oak and honey-locust trees, 

58 




Thomas Nuttall 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 



each a plant 24 inches in diameter of trunk, and ris- 
ing to a height of 60 feet. A number of black-berry 
(rubus villosus) bushes in sight, remind us of 
Thomas Nuttall, an Englishman by birth, but an 
American product in botany and ornithology, — He, a 
most interesting character, an account of whom 
Charles J. Wister happily presented to our Horticul- 
tural Society a few years ago. No stranger to Ger- 
mantown was Nuttall, and upon one of his visits to 
the garden of Grumblethorpe, while in the company 
of Charles J. Wister, Sr., and Junior, pronounced the 
progenitors of the plants we have referred to as "in- 
corrigible rascals, you'll never be able to do any- 
thing with," — apparently looking upon their im- 
provement as a thing impossible. 

When we remember that the old fruit trees of 
"Grumblethorpe" have lived through the busiest life 
of our town, and yet bear as they did at a time when 
Christopher Saur in a building close by printed pam- 
phlets and books now highly prized, we may well 
halt for a moment of reverential meditation, not for 
the trees and their produce, but for the power which 
gave them life, which sustained them, and which 
has given them to us. Beside the garden wall,— 
Christopher Saur and wife having "finished their 
course," now sleep, but the trees live on. 

Customs with their periods change, and God- 
fried Lehman who was "laid away" in his garden, 
a spot on Main street now covered by George 

59 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Weiss's coal yard, — was removed to the quiet of the 
"Brethrens Grounds," where he awaits the herald 
of the eternal dawn. Francis Daniel Pastorius, 
whose resting place has mystified local historians 
for a hundred years or more, worries me not, for 
guided by many "signs," and following a common 
practice, I believe he was buried in his garden, and 
on the ground to the rear of the First Methodist 
Episcopal Church, I doubt not he took the "step into 
the dark," and passed to the light of the world be- 
yond. 

Interesting trees the garden of "Grumblethorpe" 
suggest, are the Chancellor pear, which originated 
on the grounds of WiUiam Chancellor, School 
House lane, adjoining Germantown Academy, and 
the original Keiffer pear, produced by Peter Keiffer 
at his nursery on Livezey's lane, west of Wissa- 
hickon creek. 

While in the vicinity of Germantown Academy, 
let us notice there a beautiful specimen of blood- 
leaved maple (acer J. atropurpurem), and also one 
of equal worth on the grounds of Miss Jane E. Hart, 
diagonally opposite. 

These plants are very fine though small, — but 
superior specimens may be noted at Dr. James Dar- 
rach's, Greene street, near Harvey street, — and at 
Mrs. Thomas W. Evans', Cliveden avenue and Main 
street, the latter I think our representative plant. 

60 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Thanks to Meehans' nurseries, we have many 
fine specimens of this showy tree about German- 
town, and among a number known to us one of the 
best is on the grounds of William Rotch Wister, 
Belfield avenue. Also in the garden of Samuel Em- 
len, West Coulter street, among other rare plants 
is the most beautiful specimen of cut-leaved maple 
(acer J. dissectum a.) I have ever seen. 

Passing the residence and one-time garden of 
the "annalist" John Fanning Watson, we now turn 
in Penn street to visit "Ivy Lodge," the home of 
John Jay Smith, whose long, useful life was here 
lived, where much of his best work was done, and 
from whence he departed to the habitations of the 
"just made perfect." "Ivy Lodge" is of interest in 
many ways, but we shall stop only to mention a 
sun-dial with a noted inscription associated with 
Stenton, and one of two original "constable boxes" 
which once did service for the "borough," — the other 
box being preserved at "Manheim," — and present a 
few plants. Both dial and box are conspicuous ob- 
jects in the garden, and surrounding them are some 
of the rarest shrubs and trees in our midst. For 
more than I am here able to give, credit is due Miss 
Elizabeth P. Smith, a daughter of John J, Smith. 
At "Ivy Lodge" is a specially fine specimen of weep- 
ing beech (fagus H. var. pendula), a memorial red 
oak (quercus rubra) planted by Miss Smith's mo- 
ther, and an immense black oak (quercus nigra), 
6i 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Also here once grew a notable juniper (juniperus 
squmata), and several specimens of araucaria. 

Miss Smith told me her father many times here 
tried to raise araucarias (arucaria imbricata) in the 
open, but never succeeded in keeping them over 
three years, this much being "considered quite an 
achievement." In England araucarias of great height 
are quite common, so I doubt not the length and se- 
verity of our winters is responsible for the plant's 
non-existence in our gardens. At "Ivy Lodge" are 
several fine mahonias (mahonia aquifolium) of 35 
years' growth, and with the exception of a small 
specimen growing on the grounds of Edward Hack- 
er, on VVister street, here is the only cedar of Leba- 
non (cedrus libani) to m}'- knowledge growing 
strictly within the town limits. This is a fine plant 
about 25 feet in height, and is one of two memorial 
trees planted in 1852 by John Jay Smith and John 
Granville Penn, the latter the last of the "proprie- 
tor's" line, — in honor of William Penn and James 
Logan. The "William Penn" tree, planted by a de- 
scendant of James Logan, is the plant we may see. 
The James Logaii tree planted by a descendant of 
William Penn, is no more, having gone the way of 
"all the earth." An orange tree over 100 years old 
yet continues one of the notables of Ivy Lodge. 

Until a few years ago there was on the grounds 
of Colonel Galloway C. Morris, on East Tulpehock- 
en street, a very fine cedar of Lebanon, but this to 

62 



GBRMANTOWN RARB AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

make room for "improvements" was destroyed. A 
"cut" of this plant, however, survives, and with a 
description may be seen in Vol I, page 39, of Mee- 
hans' Monthly. Our best and most notable cedars 
of Lebanon stand in North Laurel Hill Cemetery, 
and these grown under the care of John Jay Smith 
are said not to be excelled in America. 

I wonder how many who pass up and down 
Main street, or who visit the Friends' Library, notice 
the trees at 'Triends' Meeting." To me these are 
always a delight, and I love to look back into the 
spacious, restful grounds, for here and wherever 
these "meetings" are, is a picture of peace. We all 
are apt to know more about "green hills" far away 
than of those immediately before us, for the things 
at hand often appear ordinary, while those heard of 
or seen under unusual conditions are rated by an 
exalted measure. 

Walking in the Wissahickon upon two occa- 
sions with men of travel, I asked, "Did you ever see 
a more beautiful place ?" One answered, "It is very 
much like the scenery of New Zealand, but it is bet- 
ter." Another said, "I have traveled throughout Eu- 
rope, and the only place that will compare at all with 
it is the Trossachs in Scotland, but in extent it is 
insignificant compared to this." Henry Carvill 
Lewis, who "circled the globe" before attaining his 
"majority," told me in all his travels he saw nothing 
that in his estimation approached the beauty of the 

63 



GBRMANTOWN RARB AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Wissahickon, and others who have traveled far and 
who Hved long abroad have told me "the Wissahick- 
on is incomparable." 

So we may know much about "Bartram's cy- 
press," a plant 9 feet in diameter and 120 feet high, 
while we may not have noticed the beautiful cypress 
at "Fairfield;" the specimen at David Peltz's, on 
Nicetown lane ; the exceedingly fine specimen 2 feet 
in diameter and 80 feet high at James E. Caldwell's, 
on Manheim street ; specimens at Henry's, Main 
street opposite Fisher's lane; at David Hinkle's, on 
Main street, near Penn street; at "Ivy Lodge;" at 
Vernon ; at Town Hall Square ; at several points on 
West Walnut lane; at Pomona; and the group of 
three very fine cypress trees we passed at Friends' 
grounds. 

There are many other fine cypress trees with us, 
but our most noted ones are on Main street, above 
Washington lane, where at Ellwood Johnson's is a 
group of three trees of unusual height, and one soli- 
tary plant 6y^ feet in diameter by 100 feet high, con- 
spicuous by its size, — this tree since the death and 
decapitation of the Bartram "Triplet," being the 
finest specimen I know, and the only one near Phil- 
adelphia which satisfactorily exhibits its families' 
characteristic "knees." These plants grow upon 
"Honey Run," on ground once owned by Peter Key- 
ser, whose son of the same name, a "preacher" and 
tanner, brought them from South Carolina, and un- 




Elliston P. Morris 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

der his direction about the year 1800 were here 
planted by Elijah Haupt, so Miss Elizabeth R. and 
Ellwood Johnson informed me. 

At the Deshler-Morris home, owned and occu- 
pied by Elliston P. Morris, is one of our finest gar- 
dens, possessing several of our largest and finest 
trees. Mr. Morris wrote me : 

"The exact age of some of my fine old trees is 
uncertain, the family tradition is that some of them 
were planted by my grandfather, or members of his 
family. I doubt not some of the older trees were 
there when it was President George Washington's 
residence during the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. 
The great storm two years ago with its wind and 
sleet sadly spoiled my most attractive trees, and in 
some cases left me but skeletons of their former 
beauty, notably a 70-year-old elm tree planted by 
my father, Samuel B. Morris, which stands in the 
middle of my grounds." 

Those who view the garden of Mr. Morris won- 
der at its freshness, and proceeding with its owner : 

"The great secret of my lawn is the unbroken 
expanse of grass, and the planting in conformity 
with established rules of landscape gardening. I 
have still some choice specimen trees, notable an 
immense English horse-chestnut (aesculus hippo- 
castanum), with a girth I should think of some 10 
feet; a hybrid English walnut (juglans regia) and 
butternut (juglans cinerea) very unusual, about 70 

65 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

feet high and a girth of say 8 feet ; a pretty specimen 
of the lovely cut-leaved beech (fagus S. heterophyl- 
la) ; a 70-year-old magnolia glauca, a fine box tree 
(boxus arborescens), and some 100-year-old box- 
bushes (buxus sempervirens), and a good variety of 
shrubbery, with its ever changing bloom." 

With us are many exceptional gardens, and 
these, with the beautiful garden of Mr. Morris, I 
trust may be presented at another time. 

We have also many rare "wild garden plants," 
and such native rare and notable plants as Goldie's 
shield fern (aspidium goldianum), a large clean vig- 
orous fern extremely rare in Eastern America, but 
native to the Wissahickon woods ; climbing fern 
(lygodium palmatum) as its name indicates a climb- 
er, of slender growth and exquisite beauty, once com- 
mon in New England, and here once a native of Rit- 
tenhouse woods; walking fern (camptsorus rhizo- 
phyllus),a strange unique plant of low growth, some- 
times rooting at the tips of its bended fronds and 
advancing by successive growth steps, — a plant 
flourishing near Bummers' Cave, and in several lo- 
calities in the "Wissahickon;" Nuttall's spleenwort 
(asplenium pinnatifidum), one of the rarest of the 
world's ferns, a gem first recorded by Henry Muh- 
lenberg and overlooked, but rediscovered on the 
banks of the Schuylkill river near "Falls of Schuyl- 
kill" and recorded in "Genera of North American 
Plants" by Thomas Nuttall, — a plant which also 

66 







R. Robinson Scott 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

once grew in the lower Wissahickon ; Scott's spleen- 
wort (asplenium ebenoides), a celebrated cross be- 
tween aspleniiim ebeneum and camptosorus rhizo- 
phyllus, the most noted of known ferns, originally 
discovered on the west bank of the Schuylkill river, 
opposite the mouth of Wissahickon creek by R.Rob- 
inson Scott, a well remembered landscape gardener 
and horticulturist, who for a long time dwelt on 
West School House lane near Main street, — this 
fern being later discovered at the soap stone quarry 
near Lafayette's crossing on Schuylkill river, and 
though now known at several "stations," yet contin- 
ues the one fern to disturb the equanimity of "hair- 
splitting" enthusiasts; Wister's coral plant (coral- 
lorhiza Wisteriana), named by Solomon W. Conrad 
in honor of Charles J. Wister, the late owner of Grum- 
blethorpe, an abused memorial now recognized as 
distinct, a plant rare in Germantown, but plentiful 
on the slopes bordering Conshohocken's Gulf Mill 
road; obolaria (obolaria Virginica), an elusive, beau- 
tiful and extremely rare plant pictured in Dr. Dar- 
lington's Florula Cestrica and appearing where it is 
difficult to find in Rabbit Lane woods; Adam and 
Eve plant (aplectrum hyemale), select, unique, al- 
most solitary, a native of two sections of our Wissa- 
hickon woods, and a prize wherever found; cancer 
root (conopholis Americana), the strangest plant in 
our territory, a weird, mysterious unattractive won- 
der, but appealing to us because of its extreme rar- 

67 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

'ity, it like the beautiful fringed gentian (gentiana 
crinita) which flourishes near, both occupying in se- 
clusion the Wissahickon hills ; these, and other rare 
and valuable plants, like Dutchman's breeches, chae- 
rophyllum, and orchids in variety we have, but 
which in this hasty superficial way we may only 
refer to and leave. 

On Main street, opposite Armat street, in a 
house occupied by Edward Manley, a one time pre- 
ceptor of mine, once lived Christian Lehman, scrib- 
ener, surveyor, notary public and nurseryman, and 
here in the old "nursery" is an English walnut to 
remind us of the first local importer of this valuable 
tree. The present specimen belongs to a later pe- 
riod, but is doubtless a product of an original plant- 
ing of surrounding grounds. From a much used ad- 
vertisement of the Pennsylvania Gazette of April 
12, 1768, we learn that there was "to be sold — a 
choice parcel of well grown young English walnut, 
as well as pear and apricot, and a curious variety of 
the best and largest sorts from England of grafted 
plumb trees fit for transplanting this spring or next 
fall, as well as a great variety of beautiful double 
hyacinth roots and tulip roots, next summer season, 
and most other things in the flower or fruit nursery 
way, by Christian Lehman." 

"Vernon," although its native charms vanished 
with its open stream, meadow, spring-house and pro- 
tecting shrubbery, yet preserves much to hold and 

68 









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Cancer Root 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

interest us. The ground now covered by Vernon 
include the estate of Melchoir Meng and part of 
that of Henry Kurtz, both plant lovers possessing 
fine gardens, which were enriched by cultivations 
of Matthias Kin, a celebrated plant collector. 

Here is the locally known "Meng's magnolia" 
(magnolia macrophylla) procured by Kin, the first 
magnolia of its kind cultivated in North America, 
and here are oak and hemlock trees planted by John 
Wister in the early part of the last century. Several 
noted trees once here have gone. One was an im- 
mense buttonwood with a trunk having a diameter 
of 5 feet ; another was a weeping willow (salix baby- 
lonica) located near the spring-house, and others 
were a large horse-chestnut which shaded the front 
of Kurtz house, and a large linden (tilia Americana) 
once prominent on the street before the door of Mel- 
chior Meng. Many doubtless may recall Meng's 
house as "Oliver Jester's tin shop," until a few years 
ago standing on Vernon's southern front. 

Old gardens, and the grapes of which Pastorius 
wrote have gone, but we have in new Germantown, 
gardens superior to any of olden time, and I warrant 
the 8-inch diameter grape vine-trunks of middle 
Wissahickon are equal to any the "founder" ever 
saw. So, too, the two gardens of Dr. Christopher 
Witt are no more, and there is nothing surviving to 
suggest them. 

69 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOT ABLE PLANTS 

On the Geissler-Warner tract, part of which was 
once occupied by Dr. Witt, whereon also he had his 
first garden, stands St. Michael's P. E. Church, and 
on its rear chancel wall is an ivy recently replanted 
by E. A. Frey. This plant, carefully transferred 
from a former position, is a hardy "English ivy" 
brought originally from Sir Walter Scott's "Abbots- 
ford" by Dorsey Cox, and was here planted under 
the direction of the late beloved rector, Dr. John K. 
Murphy. 

At this place also grew a white mulberry tree 
(morus alba) of local celebrity, one of many which 
sprang up in this neighborhood, the parent tree be- 
ing at the "cocoonery," Hermann and Morton 
streets. Although Dr. Philip Syng Physick, nor his 
son Philip had any direct connection with this tree, 
it is justly prized, and I am pleased that in the form 
of a "Canterbur}^ chair," inspired by Rev. Arnold 
Harris Hord, "St. Michael's" present rector, made 
by George Redles, it now occupies a prominent posi- 
tion in the chancel of the church, for beyond these 
associations, it was grown in the Warner burying 
ground, where was laid the remains of Christian 
Warner, Daniel Geissler, Dr. Christopher Witt, and 
perhaps John Kelpius, all Mystics and early bota- 
nists, and we have before us a memorial sanctified 
by the blood it contains. 

Though the Warner ground mulberry was a 
foundling, we have on the original "multicaulis" 

70 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

grounds where Philip Physick Hved a solitary speci- 
men of mulberry of unusual size, 3 feet in diameter 
by 40 feet high now in bloom, to remind us of a 
"South Sea bubble" burst, which troubled the inves- 
tors of a generation past. 

Among the noted trees of Germantown was a 
pecan once standing on the grounds of Dr. William 
R. Dunton, and which was removed after the erec- 
tion of the First Methodist Church. This tree was 
grown from one of several nuts which Thomas Nut- 
tall brought from Arkansas and presented to his 
friend, Reuben Haines, a prominent officer of the 
Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and at 
whose home in Germantown he was a frequent 
guest. The nut which produced Doctor Dunton's 
tree was given by Reuben Haines to his neighbor, 
Daniel Pastorius, and two nuts were planted in his 
own garden, all developed to plants of maturity, but 
the trees at "Wyck" died, while the Pastorius tree 
reached large proportions, bore fruit, and it is to be 
regretted that a specimen of so much interest could 
not have been preserved. 

In many respects a pecan (carya olivaeformis) 
resembles a hickory (carya tomentosa), a tree whose 
name occupies an important place in the early rec- 
ords of Germantown. From our Township line 
boundaries the ancient "hicories" have disappeared, 
and I shall refer only to a notable one which stood 
on Baynton street, west of Church lane, a tree 

71 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Thomas MacKellar described as "the finest hickory" 
he ever saw. 

"Wyck" throughout the history of Germantown 
has been conspicuous, and I am sorry that present 
bounds will not permit us to enlarge upon it. To 
this attractive spot came the most noted naturalists 
of the last century, and following in the path of gen- 
erous culture came Lafayette, who in the year 1825 
was given here a public reception which is distinctly 
remembered by Robert Thomas and Joseph Murter, 
honored citizens already referred to, who attended 
it. At "Wyck" is growing a Spanish chestnut (cas- 
tanea vesca) raised from a tree whose parent nut 
was planted by Washington at Belmont for Judge 
Richard Peters. Also here is a white walnut (jug- 
lans cinerea) grown from a tree planted by Lafay- 
ette at Belmont, upon his "farewell visit" to Amer- 
ica. Also here among many rare and interesting 
plants is a seckel pear — which from a graft taken 
from the original tree growing in the "neck" near 
Penrose Ferry bridge, Philadelphia, — was raised, 
and here planted by Reuben Haines. Two immense 
linden trees once standing on the front lawn, by 
age and storm demolished, have vanished, our plate 
exhibiting the for a time survivor one. A valuable 
drawing of Wyck made by Thomas Stewartson in 
1868, shows these two trees spreading their branches 
over, and high above the mansion roof. Many of us 
may remember it was an immense tree standing on 

72 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

"Wyck" ground, and afterwards in the centre of the 
street almost opposite "The Barn," which gave to 
Walnut lane its name. This walnut for several years 
was permitted to keep its place, but in due time be- 
came a prey to expediency. 

Likewise it was a noted oak which gave name 
to a familiar "east-side" lane, and the circumstances 
attending were almost identical with those serving 
the Walnut lane dedication. 

Among plants rare, though not rare plants, are 
several which have always puzzled me that they are 
not more general in cultivation. One of these is 
tamarisk (tamarix gallica), a shrub or small tree 
common enough in other parts, but with us scarce. 
The finest specimen of this plant we have is one 8 
inches in diameter, rising with a bushy head to a 
height of i6 feet, and growing in the garden of Mrs, 
Frank Cooley, io6 Hermann street. Ordinarily 
tamarisk is of a thin, straggling habit, but respond- 
ing to care and liberal pruning this plant shows a 
remarkably heav}^, vigorous growth, as a cut, page 
173 of volume 12, Meehans' Monthly, fairly illus- 
trates. 

On our way northward, let us as we pass 
Charles Megargee's mansion, now the home of a 
popular club, recall a rare oriental spruce recorded 
by William E. Meehan. Impersonality in writing 
is often its greatest strength, but the credit for a 
large amount of city history presented by Mr. Mee- 

73 



GBRMANTOWN RAKE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

han I should like to see justly given, for much that 
has appeared and repeatedly reappeared belongs to 
him. The oriental spruce (picea orientalis) once 
here was considered a remarkably fine one, and be- 
longed to the "most northern growing of all the pine 
tree family." This specimen was brought to Phila- 
delphia "by Engineer George W. Melville on his 
return from the famous De Long expedition," the 
specimen being secured "on an island near the 
mouth of the Lena river." 

Among our scarce plants is persimmon (diospy- 
ros Virginiana), though why this should be I do not 
know, for outside our territory, and especially in 
the neighborhood of the Perkiomen Valley, it is one 
of the most common of trees. At Stenton ; on Ab- 
botsford avenue near James A. Wright's place; in 
the Wissahickon near David Rittenhouse' birth- 
place, and also at Livezey's Mills ;" near Rabbit lane 
and County Hne; we have meritorious if not great 
persimmons ; and at Miss Hocker's, Main street 
above Washington lane ; also at Joseph C. Chan- 
non's, Main street above Pastorius street, we have 
at each place two specimens, noteworthy because 
being directly upon our main highway they serve to 
remind us of farm days and the simple character of 
our one-time village. Here, too, at "Channon's," 
under the care of Miss Amelia R. Wood, is a lusty 
Japanese persimmon (diospyros kaki) which never 
fails to fruit. Also here, as well as at Miss Elizabeth 

74 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

R. Johnson's near-by, are quince, pear and apple or- 
chards, survivors of ancient days, blossoming as of 
old. 

Townsend Ward, with others before him, fol- 
lowing the lead of Judge Samuel W. Pennypacker, 
who discovered Plockhoy s connection with German- 
town, have given accounts of a great but almost un- 
known man who had the confidence to address 
Cromwell upon his plans, a religious writer of wide 
influence, the founder of a successful community, 
which existed nearly 200 years before that of the 
more widely known "Brook Farm" of New England. 
This man was Peter Cornelius Plockhoy, and his 
colony was located on the Delaware river, where the 
town of Lewes now is. Ward records: 'In 1694 
there came to Germantown an old man and his wife. 
He was blind and poor, and his name was Cornelis 
Plockhoy, the founder and last survivor of the Men- 
nonite colony broken up 30 years before at the 
Hoorn Kill by Sir Robert Carr. The good people of 
Germantown took pity on him;" and continuing 
with Judge Pennypacker, "they gave him the citi- 
zenship free of charge." They set apart for him 
at the end street of the village by Peter Klever's 
corner a lot 12 rods long and one rod broad whereon 
to build a little house and make a garden ; in front 
of it they planted a tree. Jan Doeden and William 
Rittenhouse were appointed to take up "a free will 
offering" and to have the house built." 

75 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

I refer to this because Plockhoy, more than he 
is, should be identified with Germantown, because 
a tree in this early life of the colony was considered 
of sufficient importance to name, and also because 
this house and tree stood upon Kyser's lane within 
sight of the homestead owned and occupied by Miss 
Elizabeth R. Johnson, in whose charming garden 
situated at the northwest corner of Main street and 
Washington lane, we shall stop for awhile to be in- 
structed and entertained with accounts of her his- 
toric plants. Among the rare treasures here is a fine 
Persian lilac (syringa persica) planted in 1771, 
which continues vigorous and spreads "its sweet- 
ness" upon the receptive "air," A curious fig (ficus 
carica) here is the development of a shoot which for 
4 years after the removal of the parent tree did not 
appear, but is now, as figs go, a stately plant, and 
which unprotected, fruits. Here also on the south- 
ern exposure of the mansion is the first wisteria 
(wisteria speciosa) planted in Germantown, and one 
of the first planted in America, a plant of immense 
proportions, and whose numerous runners over- 
spreading two near-by trees weighted them to earth. 

Many fine wisteria plants we have, and at Ell- 
wood Johnson's fascinating retreat adjoining there 
is a most beautiful specimen ; another is at "Grum- 
blethorpe;" another at William Rotch Wister's on 
Belfield avenue, and yet another at Dr. Herman 
Burgin's on West Chelten avenue ; also at David 

76 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

McMahon's on East Chelten avenue are two hand- 
some wisterias grown as standards, and a beautiful 
specimen stands on Chestnut avenue, — near St. 
Paul's Rectory, Chestnut Hill. All these are nota- 
ble plants, and conspicuous among an innumerable 
company which help beautify our town. 

At the Johnson homestead are several fine box 
trees planted in the year 1800, and these bring to 
mind other superior box trees , plants on Hermann 
street, near Baynton street; at Hacker house on 
Main street; at Vernon; and at many other points 
in our territory. 

At Ellwood Johnson's we shall halt for a mo- 
ment to partake of his sparkling spring water, and 
note a pear tree of Revolutionary days which yet 
spreads its branches over a charming spring-house. 
Here imtil the storm which overthrew Christ Church 
steeple, stood an old willow (salix babylonica) with 
a trunk 5^ feet in diameter, and one of the first 
weeping willow trees planted in America, a notable 
specimen which outliving its strength was felled 
by the great wind of the storm referred to, but now 
a scion from its roots has risen to preserve its mem- 
ory. 

Also here among many notable plants is a fine 
specimen of the rare clammy locust (robinia vis- 
cosa), and the largest hazelnut (corylus Americana) 
I have ever seen, a plant of 20 feet in height, and 
covering a large area. 

77 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Passing Concord School, its nature-loving- pu- 
pils, George Lippard and William E. Meehan, with 
other associations of interest to plant students, we 
halt at "Pomona Grove" to present a plant which 
should not be forgotten, for "Pomona" and its 
charms are now a memory. At the northeast corner 
of what is now Baynton street and Pomona terrace 
once stood a yew, which by those competent to 
judge was considered remarkable. No one has been 
able to definitely state where this tree came from, 
nor when it was planted. All agree that it was a 
mature imported plant and was placed at "Pomona" 
by Col. Thomas Forrest. There need be no mystery, 
however, for it is well known a yew grows rapidly 
for 20 or more years, more slowly for a hundred 
years, after which period it exists in a practically 
stationary condition. 

Prof. Thomas Meehan pronounced the Pomona 

yew one of the finest he had ever seen, and his ripe 

knowledge and wide travels gave a distinct value to 

the opinion. This plant was in perfect condition, 

covered a circle of 13 feet diameter, and stood at a 

height of 20 feet. With Mrs. Akers we sigh — 

"Alas, that vandal hands should tear away 

The ancient landmarks dear to other days. 

And spoil the verdurous temples in a day, 

Which nature took so many years to raise!" 

It is to be forever regretted that the efforts of 
our Germantown Horticultural Society to secure 

78 



GBRMANTOWN RARB AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

this gem for Market Square failed, for it rather than 
objectionable intrusions now there, would better 
serve the purposes for which the block was set 
apart. 

We have, however, near Market Square in the 
garden of Elliston P. Morris, a small, but perfect 
and very beautiful specimen of English yew, identi- 
cal in variety with the plant so unfortunately lost, 
and at Vernon yet flourishes a specimen second only 
to the one so inexcusably destroyed. 

Continuing — we pass Miss Arrott's select 
school, which was once a barn, and Leonard Stone- 
burner's house and farm, he an active citizen, whose 
pride lay rather in the speed of his horses than in 
"crops" and trade and politics, all of which claimed 
a large share of his attention ; also passing Naaman 
K. Floyd's garden, and his numerous plants of more 
than local interest — we soon reach "Cliveden," first 
occupied as a country seat by Chief Justice Chew in 
the year 1763. This is the battleground's centre, 
and is sacred because of the men who died there; 
but while appreciating this, let us work and pray 
for a time when war shall be considered a crime, and 
the taking of human life for any cause, be dastard 
murder. At "Cliveden" there are now no plants of 
the Revolutionary period, and many of its finest 
shrubs have been planted within my memory. 

"Growing close against the Chew mansion is a 
beautiful rose of Japan. It is certainly at least 75 

79 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

years old, and has delighted all who have seen it by 
the quality and beauty of its large red blossoms," 
so noted William E. Meehan. Mrs. Chew wrote 
me : "There were a number of magnificent English 
elms, a row along the front of the place near the 
street, extending as far as Upsal street, and another 
row along Cliveden street." 

Near the barn there is at present an elm (ulmus 
campestris), a sole representative of the trees indi- 
cated. The street "trees were killed by wanton boys 
when the family temporarily left the place about 40 
years ago," and by the fathers I doubt not of the 
"Dogtowners," who stoned every Rittenhouse 
School boy of my own class reckless enough to ven- 
ture alone into the reserved precincts of "Beggars- 
town." Here is a beautiful specimen of European 
larch (larix Europaea), and to continue with Mrs. 
Chew, "the tulip poplars on the west side of the 
house were planted by Blair McClanachan during 
the few years after the battle that he owned the 
property. The oak on the lawn in front of the house 
was planted about 70 years ago by one of the fam- 
ily." 

The pine tree (pinus inops) on the front lawn 
"may be accounted for in the following way I think, 
although I do not positively know. Mr. Chew, the 
son of the Chief Justice, owned a number of very 
fine farms in New Jersey, and his tenants there were 
of the same family for generations, and they were 

80 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLB PLANTS 

on the most kind and friendly terms with Mr. Chew. 
I imagine that this tree when very small may have 
been brought as a gift to Mr. Chew by one of his 
tenants, and there planted by Mr. Chew himself." 

Until lately surviving on Upsal street was a 
companion pine, which from its position gave 
strength to this opinion, for these trees appeared to 
have been twins planted in "Cliveden" equi-distant, 
— though it may be they were procured from a grove 
once part of Chew's wood, a known specimen from 
which transferred 50 years ago by George Paramore 
to his family's homestead on East Washington lane, 
there near the house yet flourishes. 

"Upsala," opposite to Cliveden, which we all 
know well by name, possesses several of our finest 
and most notable plants. Miss Sally W. Johnson, 
who owns and occupies it, generously gave me an 
account of its rare home plants, which we may now 
only present in outHne. Among these plants were 
grapes planted and cared for by Dr. Johnson, a very 
large white flowering camelHa, a white flowering 
sweet jasmine, a laurestinas, a daphne, not equal to 
the one which Miss Ann Chew had in her hall by 
the front window. Of her garden. Miss Johnson's 
account is so interesting that I cannot deny myself 
the pleasure of quoting. In it "there were in sum- 
mer Bordeaux lilies, and varlotta purpurea, a hand- 
some red clustered lily, and agapanthus with their 
odd shade of lavender blue ; funkias, vincas, oriental 
81 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

poppies in garden beds, and the 'York and Lancas- 
ter' rose still blooms, though it is a curious dwarf. 
The Marie Louise, a sweet light pink rose, has lived 
on all through the garden for I am sure the past hun- 
dred years. I try to replace the trees or plants that 
have died. There was once a double row of white 
Hawthorn to the Johnson street entrance. The red 
berries were so bright, and made a charming Eng- 
lish decoration for Christmas. A double pink Haw- 
thorn was a very fine tree." 

"The fringe tree was an old favorite, arching 
gracefully over the middle walk, and when gone was 
replaced by another, and a group of tartarian honey- 
suckle is still blooming every spring after the daffo- 
dils and cowslips and double low buttercups with 
their mottled shiny leaves, periwinkles and lilies of 
the valley were in every shady spot, and the late 
summer was gorgeous with phlox — the hardy — and 
Drummondii, larkspurs, tritoma, trumpet vine, and 
the like." 

Though many of "Upsala's" best trees are no 
more, here yet are several of which we may be justly 
proud. The once well-known creeping yew is gone, 
and the silver fir planted in 1800, which reached 100 
feet in height, a plant figured and described in A. J. 
Downing's "Landscape Gardening," was removed 
several years ago, and a memorial apolinian fir was 
planted in its place. 

82 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Here is a famous American yew, a plant dis- 
tinct from English yew; a noted catalpa, a dwarf 
spruce, a handsome tulip-poplar, a number of tower- 
ing white pines, an exceedingly fine cryptomeria or 
Japan cedar, which greatly excels specimens at 
"Fairfield," at Edward Hacker's on Wister street, 
at Peter Keiffer's on Livezey's lane, and which is 
equalled only by a like tree at Moses Brown's, on 
West School House lane; and here is a Califor- 
nia mammoth or "big-tree" (sequoia gigantea), 
a plant now about 25 feet in height, the rarest, 
and with the exception of a small specimen growing 
near the spring in Meehans' nurseries, — so far as 
known to me, is the only specimen of a size worthy 
of consideration in Philadelphia. This tree,nowshow- 
ing the effects of last winter's unusual frost, stands 
directly in front of the mansion, and my prayer is 
that "Upsala" unaltered, and its owner in health 
and "perpetual youth," may continue until it attains 
the proportions of its most illustrious progenitors. 

Time presses upon us, so we shall pass rapidly 
Billmeyer house, where are beautiful specimens of 
locust (robinia pseudacacia), walnut and honey-lo- 
cust (gleditschia triacanthos) ; Peter Leibert house, 
where are fair Norway spruce, horse-chestnut and 
silver maple trees ; the Church of the Brethren grounds, 
where grow four of our finest trees, two larch trees, 
each 2 feet in diameter and 60 feet high, and two 
coffee trees of magnificent development, plants 2 

83 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

feet in diameter by 80 feet high each ; several strik- 
ing plants of merit at Peter D. Hinkle's ; St. Mi- 
chael's Lutheran Church grounds, where is a superb 
specimen of Irish yew (taxus, var. Hibernica), re- 
sembling, but in beauty far exceeding, similar 
plants at St. Vincent de Paul's Church, and Lower 
Burying Ground; Phil-Ellena, the one-time resi- 
dence of George W. Carpenter, whose garden of 
home gardens, if not the greatest, was at least the 
one most widely known, but its rare plants are now 
distributed and its notable trees in the main leveled 
to accommodate "Pelham," a late product of capital 
and change. 

At George Hesser or William M. Bayard house, 
opposite, is a number of fine box-bordered walks, an 
impressive linden resembling the linden in Concord 
Burying Ground, and a picturesque white pine, but 
these without further mention we shall neglect to 
stop briefly at Joseph Meehan's, on Pleasant street, 
and at Meehans' nursery on Main street, the latter 
once located at the southeast corner of Meehan ave- 
nue, where numerous plants now beautifying home 
streets and gardens were first grown. 

Among Joseph Meehan's "wild plants" is a 
handsome aster, discovered by this botanist near 
Gettysburg, Pa., a plant which for several years has 
been growing in his garden. As yet the "authori- 
ties" have not decided upon a name, so we have the 
pleasure of first presenting it as aster Meehani. 

84 




Joseph Meehan 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Here also is a specimen of the rare Franklin 
tree (gordonia pubescens), and with the exception 
of a like specimen at Meehans' nurseries, and an- 
other near Horticultural Hall, also one raised by 
William De Hart and now growing near Lans- 
downe, it is the finest specimen I know. 

In our "Flora" I have referred to the parent of 
this tree, which was a scion of the plant brought 
from South Carolina by William Bartram. The 
original plant, abused at Bartram Garden after the 
retirement of Colonel Carr, was rescued and revived 
by William De Hart at his garden on Darby road, 
where it grew for several years. It was then pre- 
sented to Joseph Meehan, on whose grounds, its 
energy spent, it struggled through a precarious ex- 
istence to an honored death — truly an interesting 
record of the most remarkable plant in botanical 
nomenclature. 

From Main street nursery Thomas Meehan re- 
moved to "Hongs' Farm," on Chew street. His 
partner, William Saunders, located first on Johnson 
street near Greene street, and later took charge of 
the experimental gardens at Washington. At the 
Chew street nurseries are many of the choicest and 
most notable plants in America, specimens from 
which plates of the "Flowers and Ferns of the 
United States" were figured. Famous individual 
shrubs and trees in great variety and the largest and 
finest Japaneseoak in America ; indeed so many "new 

85 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

and rare plants" that I shall leave them, trusting 
that Joseph Meehan may favor us with a paper upon 
the same, and at present we shall be content with 
reference to a few valuable ones I think him likely 
to ignore — namely, cut-leaved plum (prunus myro- 
bolana, var. dissectum) ; halesia Meehani or silver- 
bell, a species of shrub or small tree bearing beauti- 
ful white bell-shaped flowers ; weeping dog-wood 
(cornus F., var. pendula) ; and rose-flowering dog- 
wood (cornus F., var. flore rubro) ; all distinct varie- 
ties originating at these widely known and justly 
famed nurseries. 

I had thought to completely cover our territory, 
but within the "time limit" this I have found impos- 
sible. There are many "estates" of merit with us 
to which I have not referred, and on them and else- 
where near are many deserving plants and odd 
growths I should like to introduce and enlarge upon, 
such as a cherry (prunus serotina) of immense pro- 
portions, situated on Fisher's lane, near Lower 
Burying Ground ; a very fine silver-bell tree on the 
grounds of George W. Russell, Seymour street near 
Morris street; two beautiful elms on Spencer's 
Farm, and standing near the site of "Roberts' Mill" 
on Church lane, near Township Line road; the 
Henry Lenhart memorial stone in Market Square 
Church grounds, which since the year 1830 has been 
enveloped by the root growth of a silver maple, and 
in its vise-like grip is supported vertically; several 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOT ABLE PLANTS 



commemorative trees, emblems of affection, such 
as the purple beech and white pine trees planted on 
Greene street near Coulter street by "Dr. Rivinis, 
a grandson of the botanist for whom Rivinia or 
rouge plant" was named; and the "Mollie Middle- 
ton," "Helen T. Longstreth" and numerous, other 
marked trees in the Wissahickon ; the very rare var- 
nish tree, a fine specimen of which grows on the 
grounds of Moses Brown, West School House lane ; 
an exceedingly fine American aspen on the grounds 
of Dr. Daniel Karsner, Tulpehocken and Greene 
streets ; a group of large pine trees at Adams street 
and Washington lane ; the wild goose lily treasured 
by Ellwood Johnson, a unique plant resembling, but 
quite distinct from Hemerocallis Flava of our gar- 
dens; a valuable and perfectly formed Norway ma- 
ple, situated on Chew street, near Washington lane, 
a tree which always leads its kind in leaf and flower ; 
two noble specimens of black oak, — conspicuous on 
"Vinegar-Hill," — owned by Ellwood Johnson; an 
immense hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha) on Mag- 
nolia street, near Johnson street ; and near at John 
H. Dunn's a beautiful specimen of weeping beech; 
individual paulownia (paulownia imperialis),catalpa 
(catalpa bignonioides), and smoke trees (rhus coti- 
nus) of merit, conspicuous in many places through- 
out our domain ; a celebrated Irish yewonce standing 
beside the Carpenter Mansion at Phil-Ellena; awhite 
oak of remarkable growth showing a trunk 5 feet in 

87 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

diameter, a height of 6o feet, and having an immense 
Hmb tapering from 2 feet in diameter, 32 feet long, 
projecting horizontally for its entire length, and com- 
pletely spanning Rabbit lane, east of E. Rittenhouse 
Miller's place ; a magnolia, the product of skill if not 
art, flourishing on James E. Gowen's grounds at 
Main street and Gowen avenue, a monstrosity 
formed by the union of a circle of plants drawn to- 
gether at about 3 feet above the earth and united 
rising in a central trunk, reminding one of Alexan- 
der Pope and his strange fancies at Twickenham ; a 
curious seat at "The Cherries" at Spring-bank, nat- 
urally supported by the outgrowth of two oak trees, 
— and near the same spot, a storm-cleft chestnut 
tree, which strangely has renewed itself ; many rare 
and beautiful magnolias, such as may be seen at 
Mrs. Taws' West Tulpehocken street, at Thomas 
Meehan's, at "Wyck," at William Heft's, and in gen- 
eral distribution throughout our territory; "cut- 
leaved" plants in variety, such as ma}^ be seen on 
Baynton street near Walnut lane, at Chelten avenue 
and Godfrey street; at J. H. Dunn's, Morton and 
Johnson streets, and at many places elsewhere ; Kil- 
marnock willows and "weeping plants" of great 
merit innumerable ; rare plants at Miller & Yates' ; 
the celebrated "paragon chestnut" of William L. 
Schaeffer, a variety of Spanish chestnut (castanea 
vesca) which originated on what is now the Institu- 
tion for the Deaf and Dumb grounds, and obtained 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

wide celebrity ; fern-leaved beech (fagus, var. asplen- 
ifolia) at Edward S. Buckley's, and weeping beech 
(fagus, var. pendula) at C. B. Dunn's, with another 
noted one at Thomas C. Price's, all of Chestnut Hill ; 
also the native pine, ginko tree, and notable haw- 
thorn of Summit street; the fine arbor vitae hedge, 
cut-leaved beech, and beautiful Colorado blue spruce 
of Montgomery avenue ; the hawthorn, English oak, 
and rare shingle or laurel oak of Stenton avenue; 
the hedges of osage orange and Norway spruce on 
Norwood avenue, as well as remarkable specimens 
on the same road of Hymalayan pine, cut-leaved, 
and weeping beech, including a fine swamp magno- 
lia at Miss Comegys' School; specimen azalias on 
Chestnut avenue ; mountain ash on Prospect avenue, 
and worthy other plants distributed throughout the 
Crefeld territory too numerous to record; with 
beautiful tree lined Sunset and Beech avenues; the 
conspicuous noteworthy linden and silver maple 
trees marking the site of William Dewees' house; 
a swamp cypress not supremely great, — but of in- 
terest because it recalls Joseph Middleton and 
Monticello and the strange service recorded in 
"The Sparrowgrass Papers," all now associated with 
Mt. St. Joseph Academy ; Caleb Cope's garden grot- 
to, with its swamp magnolia, sour gum, and a few 
remaining conspicuous plants to remind us of this 
one-time well-known, much used and valuable re- 
sort of the "old school ;" the "new garden" of John 

89 



GERMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

T. Morris on Wissahickon, a botanical garden in 
every respect save name ; and many unique plants 
stationed throughout the length and breadth of the 
Wissahickon region. 

But among our superabundance it has been 
possible only to place a few guide posts to point the 
way to all who care "to lead or follow" to a posses- 
sion which in other parts is suggested only by such 
rich old settlements as Alexandria, West Chester 
and some New England towns, but not any of which 
so far as I have been able to observe, is able to ap- 
proach the treasure ever present with us. Much 
that we desire to present we thus are obliged to cur- 
tail or ignore, and with one more thought we shall 
conclude. 

When visitors of distinction called upon George 
W. Childs at "Wootten," they invariably were re- 
quested to plant a tree. The custom is a pleasing 
one worthy of imitation, and should be encouraged. 
Wrote Thomas Meehan : — "Treesare associated with 
our dearest memories and most important events." 
Abroad memorial and historic trees are so numer- 
ous that we refer to them only for illumination, and 
in our own country we have the "Charter Oak" of 
Connecticut, the famous "Elm of Cambridge," and 
the "Treaty Tree" of Philadelphia. Other trees quite 
as important, but not so well known, are the "Lib- 
erty Tree" of Newport, the mulberry tree of Mary- 
land under which the first settlers met to establish 

90 




Prof. Thomas Meeha 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

a government, and the plane tree of Burlington to 
which New Jersey colonists tied ship before the 
founding of Philadelphia. 

Stop soon we must, and passing many home 
plants of tender associations, I shall select one, and 
close with mention of a memorial tree near Kitch- 
en's bridge in the Wissahickon, a pin oak (quercus 
palustris), planted "Arbor Day, 1903, by the pupils 
of Andrew G. Curtin Public School in memory of 
Thomas Meehan, the friend of boys and girls." No 
truer words than these were ever penned, but let us 
not limit, for Thomas Meehan was a friend to all — 
the world is better because he Hved, and there is no 
one in German town this day who does not enjoy the 
fruit of his great work. 

So we pass, and although our list of plants is 
indicative only, and those named but meagrely "pre- 
sented," yet we trust enough has been noted to direct 
attention to the beautiful creations placed before us 
to enjoy and sufficient to demonstrate that with 
"progress," culture has not backward moved. We 
have no need to covet or compare, for in a magnifi- 
cent fullness we have what others have not, and 
while we envy not nor desire another less, let us for 
ourselves strive to deserve the favors so bountifully 
given, and take lesson, for false accumulations 
are vanity, so let us spurning the selfishness of the 
few who ignore the rights of the many, find pleas- 
ure in pursuits which no abuse is able to restrict nor 
91 



GBRMANTOWN RARH AND NOT ABLE PLANTS 

monopoly to control, for when schemers and their 
usurpations are no more, nature incorruptible and 
unalterable will continue steadfast on her way. 

Now as I go about our "village," developed to 
a full-fledged town, I rejoice that we have so much 
for the enjoyment of the many, and so little that is 
not as free as our own desires. As of old, our com- 
mon highway follows its tortuous course, and al- 
though peach and weeping willow and lombardy 
poplar trees of long ago have vanished, other trees 
of sturdier mould have risen to take their place. 
Large, substantial houses in the ripeness of age con- 
tinue with us, but those who built them sleep in our 
shaded graveyards, and we may decipher their 
names on bleached and weather-beaten decompos- 
ing stone. Lofty trees planted by those who "have 
gone before," in "the fullness of time" stand as 
monuments to them, and as friends to us to shade 
and protect. 

Time "may come, and time may go," for nature 
is change, and change nature, but to us "Providence 
has been very kind," and the past though hardly 
pressed, yet dominates the present. 

Mansions and plantations justly venerated have 
become the property of all, and now among us we 
have "Vernon" and "Stenton," "Waterview" and 
"Cliveden" as public parks, not great nor finished 
as yet, but ours, while behind looming up in the 
possibilities of "pleasure grounds" is "Fernhill," and 

92 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 



with us forever secure is the peerless Wissahickon. 

Though slowly, the character of our town alters, 
"orders old giving place to new," but I rejoice that 

we have so much to remind us of days gone by 

'^Cliveden" and "Upsala," "Grumblethorpe" and 
"Wyck," to any of which an enforced change would 
be a catastrophe. 

Logan, Huber's, Green's, Spring Alley, "Tink- 
er" Frey's, Vernon and Chew springs have gone, 
but Wister, Cope, Harvey and Johnson springs con- 
tinue to remind us of rural long ago. Henry's, Ver- 
non and Methodist lane pumps, once with never-tir- 
mg handles traveling uncomplainingly "neath earth 
and sky" for the public good, have been retired, but 
"Manheim street pump" unfailingly dispenses to 
who so e'er will wait. Toll-gate, Conestoga and 
stage-coach have disappeared from our turnpike 
road, and the trolley has "followed after," yet in 
spite of "all temptation" we cling to the past, and 
the "Germantown wagon" undaunted waits upon us 
to do us service. 

Change truly is in the air, but there is a re- 
markable blending of the old with the new. The 
curse of war has passed from among us, "swords 
have been beaten into plough-shares, and spears into 
pruning hooks," "peace and plenteousness" reign 
within our borders. No more the cannon's thunder- 
ing roar disturbs our homes, and "storied groves of 
Johnson's lane, where Washington the bold led 

93 



GBRMANTOWN RARE AND NOTABLE PLANTS 

Freedom's sons on British guns in the brave days of 
old" are free of strife. 

Now from many gardens on our "Appian Way" 
the perfume of blooming plants "maketh glad the 
heart of man ;" native birds frequent, charming with 
enlivening song our Main street lawns, and from 
above, falling upon never-tiring ears, "the great bell 
still tolls the hours," as one by one they round to 
remind us of youth and age and the "vast forever," 
while over the "belgian block," heedlessly perhaps, 
"the noise of traffic rolls." 

Days come and go, the wheel turns. With us, 
"too soon, too soon, the noon will be the afternoon, 
to-day be yesterday." "The night cometh" when no 
man may work. While it is yet day, let us remem- 
ber those who "planted and watered" that we might 
benefit, and not forgetting our obligations to them, 
to ourselves and posterity, let us appreciate and pro- 
vide, so that generations to come may receive with 
the increase those blessings so generously showered 
upon us, that the Germantown of greater opportu- 
nity to be, may upon the traditions and heritage 
preserved and bequeathed, rise to heights not 
attained, because imknown to us. 



94 



INDEX 



Abington Lane 17 

Abbotsford '. '. 70 

Abbotsford Avenue \ [ 74 



Acacia 



35 



Academy of Natural Sciences 71 

Adam and Eve Plant .67 

Adams Street *. . ........ 47 87 

Addison's Walk '43 

Ailanthus V.' 35, i8, '58 

Alburger, John 38 

Alcott, Bronson ! 37 

Alcott, Louisa M ..dl 

Allen's Lane 41 50 

Apple 75 

Apricot ' gg 

Apsley Street .33 

Araucaria 62 

Arbor Vitae 42 53 89 



Arbutus 
Armat Street 



.55 
68 



Armstrong's 3g 

Arrott's School ..79 

Ash, Mountain 89 

Ashton, Dr 41 

Aspen, American _ g7 

Aster, Meehani 84 

Asylum Pike 34 

Audubon \ on 

Awbury •■...................." "iQ 

Azalea, Hardy ' ' go 

Baker, W. E. S 32 35 

Barberry ' .f. 

Barn, The .............." 73 

Bartram's Cypress 64 

Bartram Garden og 

Bartram Triplet ...[ g. 

Bartram, William 85 

Barron, Com. James 48 

Baumann, Louis C 46 48 

Bayard, William M :::::;: "as," 53," 55; 84 

Baynton Street 42, 71 78 88 



95 



INDEX 



Beech 29, 45, 49 

Beech Avenue 89 

Beeches, Burnham , 13 

Beech, Copper 33 

Beech, Cut-leaved 66, 89 

Beech, Fern-leaved 89 

Beech, Purple 87 

Beech, Weeping 61, 87, 89 

Beech, Wister's 33 

Beggarstown 80 

Belfield 34 

Belfield Avenue 29, 61, 76 

Belmont 72 

Bensell's Lane 16 

Bethesda Home 51 

Betton, Dr. Samuel 48 

Betton, Samuel 48 

Betton, Dr. Thomas Forrest 48 

Big-tree, California 83 

Billmeyer House 83 

Birch, Silver 29, 42 

Birch, White 29 

Blackberry 59 

Blair Linden 50 

Blathewood 50 

Blight, George 38 

Blue-bell Hill 53 

Bonneval Cottage, 39 

Bonsall, E. H 22 

Box 28, 53, 66, 77, 84 

Branchtown 18, 37 

Brethren, Church of 83 

Brethren's Grounds 60 

Brewster, Judge F. Carroll 33 

Brickyards 48 

Bringhurst Street 56 

Brinley, Charles W 36 

Brinton, Dr. J. B 56 

Bristol Line 17 

Brook Farm 75 

Brown, Moses 44, 58, 83, 87 

Brown, Prof. Stewartson 31 

Buckley, Edward S 89 



96 



c 



INDBX 

Bummers' Cave 52, 66 

Burgin, Dr. H 55, 76 

Burlington Plane 91 

Butler Place 35, 37, 38 

Butternut 34 

Button-ball 29 

Buttonwood 24, 39, 40, 41, 65, 69 

Buttonwood Hotel 41 

Burying Ground, Concord 17, 43, 84 

Burying Ground, Lower 17, 84, 86 

Burying Ground, Upper 17 

Caernarvon 46 

Caldwell, James E 64 

California Big-tree 82 

Cambridge Elm 90 

Cancer Root 67 

Canteloupe 47, 48 

Canterbury Chair 70 

Carlton 38, 44, 49 

Carpenter, George W 84 

Carpenter's Lane 18, 45, 52, 55 

Carpenter Mansion 87 

Carr, Colonel 85 

Catalpa 25, 26, 30, 83, 87 

Catherine Pear 57 

Cayuga Street 31 

Cedar, Japan 29, 83 

Cedar of Lebanon 30, 31, 63 

Cedars, The 31 

Century Plant 33 

Chaerophyllum 68 

Champlost 27 

Chancellor Pear 60 

Chancellor, William 60 

Channon, Joseph C 74 

Charter Oak 90 

Chelten Avenue 55, 77, 88 

Cherry, 86 

"Cherries," The 28, 88 

Chestnut 27, 31, 34, 44, 88 

Chestnut, Horse 69, 83 

Chestnut, Paragon 87 



97 



INDEX 

Chestnut, Spanish 72, 88 

Chestnut Avenue 36, 77, 89 

Chestnut Hill 36, 42, 49, 51, 77, 89 

Chew, (Miss) Ann 81 

Chew, Chief Justice 80, 81 

Chew Mansion 22, 79 

Chew, Mrs 80 

Chew Spring 92 

Chew Street 27, 42, 43, 52, 85, 87 

Chew's Wood 81 

Childs, George W 90 

Christ's Church 77 

Christ's Church Rectory 55 

Church Lane 25, 71, 86 

Church Street 43 

Clammy Locust 77 

Clark, E. W 29, 52 

Clapier Street 38, 44 

Clearfield 28 

Climbing Fern 66 

Cliveden 29, 79, 81, 93 

Cliveden Avenue 60, 80 

Cocoonery 70 

Coffee Tree 34, 37, 83 

Comegys' School, Miss 89 

Concord Ground 17, 43, 84 

Concord School 78 

Conestogas' 24, 93 

Conrad, Sol. W 67 

Conshohocken 67 

Constable Boxes 61 

Constabel, Martin 54 

Conyngham House 56 

Cooley, Mrs. Frank 73 

Cope, Caleb 89 

Cope's Grotto 89 

Cope, Francis R 43 

Cope's Spring 92 

Cope, Thomas P 43 

Corvy, The 47 

Coulter Street 55, 61, 87 

County-Line Road 38, 51, 74 

Cox, Dorsey 70 

98 



INDEX 

Cref eld 89 

Cresheim Road 41, 45, 46 

Cryptomeria 29, 32, 83 

Cucumber Tree 31 

Curtin, A. G., School 91 

Cypress, Bartram's 31, 63 

Cypress, Knees' 64 

Cypress Swamp 31, 64, 89 

[) Darby Road 85 

Dark-Run Lane 34 

Darlington, Dr. William 67 

Darrach, Dr. James 60 

Datz, Jacob A 38 

Deaf and Dumb Aslyum 88 

Deane Silas 20, 21 

Deaver, Dr. R. W 37 

De Bonneville, Dr. George 37, 39 

De Hart, William 85 

Deshler-Morris Garden . . .- 65 

Devil's-Pool 50 

Dewees, William 41, 89 

Dial, Stenton 61 

Doeden, Jan 75 

Dog-town 80 

Dogwood, Common 35, 49, 56 

Dogwood, Rose-flowering 86 

Dogwood, Weeping 45, 86 

Downing, A. J 30, 82 

Drinker, Elizabeth 28 

Drinker, Henry 28 

Dunn, C. B 89 

Dunn, J. H 87, 88 

Dunton, Dr. William R 71 

Dutchman's Breeches 68 

Duval Street 48 

Duy's Lane 38 

^ Ebony Spleenwort 67 

Edinburgh 15 

Elder 56 

Elm 31, 43, 65, 80, 86 

Elm, Cambridge 90 



99 



tofC. 



INDEX 

Elm, English 80 

Elm, Galena 43 

Elm, Weeping 43 

Emlen, Samuel 55, 61 

Evans, Mrs. Thomas W 60 

Experimental Gardens 85 

p Fairfield 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 42, 64, 83 

Fair-hill 25 

Falls of Schuylkill 38, 41, 66 

Farm, The 35 

Farnum, Mrs 23 

Fern-Hill 29, 36, 37, 38, 42, 44, 49, 58, 92 

Fig 58, 76 

Fir, Apolinian 82 

Fir, Silver 82 

First Methodist Church 60, 71 

Fisher, Ellicott 34 

Fisher's Hollow 32 

Fisher, James 28 

Fisher's Lane 26, 27, 30, 32, 33, 64, 86 

Florula Cestrica 67 

Flowers and Ferns of United States 85 

Forest Leaves 46 

Forrest, Col. Thomas 78 

Fox, Miss 27 

Fraley House 23 

Frank Street 44 

Franklin Tree 85 

Freas, Philip R 48 

Frey, E. A 70 

Frey, "Tinker" 55, 92 

Friends' Library 63 

Friends' Meeting 41, 63, 64 

Fringe Tree 45, 55, 82 

Further Records 36 

Q Galena Elm 43 

Galvin, Thomas P 37 

Garden, Kew 13 

Gardens, Old 69, 70 

Gardette, E. B 47 

Gardette, Dr. James 38 

lOO 



INDEX 

Garret, Andrew 41 

Garrett's Hill 36, 48 

Garrett, Philip C .29 

Garsed Lane 50 

Gates, James R 47 

Geissler, Daniel 69, 70 

Genera of North American Plants .66 

Gentian, Fringed 68 

Germantown Academy 60 

Germantown Horticultural Society 59, 78 

Germantown Lots 16 

Germantown, Maps of 15 

Germantown, Method of Settlement 16 

Germantown, Old Roads of 16 

Germantown Road 25, 30 

Germantown Telegraph .33 

Germantown Wagon 93 

Ginko 42, 58, 89 

Godfrey Street 88 

Godman, Dr. J. D 46 

Goldies' Shield-fern 66 

Gorgas Street 53 

Gowen Avenue 88 

Gowen, James E 88 

Grape 69 

Great-Road 15, 17 

Green Lane .37 

Green's Meadow 54 

Green's Spring 92 

Greene Street 38, 55, 60, 87 

Grumblethorpe 24, 34, 45, 54, 57, 59, 60, 76, 93 

Guckes, Philip 38 

Guide, The . Al 

Gulf-mills Road .67 

Gum, Sour [37 

Gypsy Lane .51 

// Hacker, Edward 42, 56, 62, 83 

Hacker House 56, 77 

Haines, Miss Jane R .'.23 

Haines, John S '43 

Haines, Reuben 71, 72 

Haines, Robert .' . 47 

lOi 



INDEX 



Haines Street 42, 43 

Hampton Court 26 

Harrison, Alfred C 42 

Harrison, George L 49 

Hart, Miss Jane E 60 

Hart, John 54 

Harvey's Spring 92 

Harvey Street 60 

Haupt, Elijah 65 

Hawthorn 15, 82, 87, 89 

Hazel-nut 77 

Heacock, Jos 52 

Hedge 37, 89 

Hedge, Arbor Vitae 89 

Hedge, Norway Spruce 89 

Hedge, Osage Orange 89 

Heft, Caspar 29 

Heft, William 40, 49, 88 

Hemlock 28, 30, 37, 51, 53, 69 

Henry House 38, 54, 64 

Henry Street 46 

Henry, T. Charlton 33 

Hermann Street 70, 73, 77 

Hesser House 84 

Hickok, Dr. Wm. H 31 

Hickory 71, 72 

Hicories 71 

High Street 15, 27, 42 

High Street Station 43 

Hinkle, David 64 

Hinkle, Peter D 84 

Hocker, Miss 74 

Holly 45 

Holt, John 86 

Honey-Locust 49, 58, 83 

Honey-Run 64 

Hong's Farm 85 

Hood's Cemetery 17 

Hord, Rev. A. H 70 

Horse-cars 24 

Horse-Chestnut 69, 83 

Horse-Chestnut, English 65 

Hotchkin, Rev. S. F 22, 26 

I02 



INDEX 

Hotel, Button wood 41 

Hotel, General Wayne 48 

Howell, Miss 56 

Huber, James S 54 

Huber's Spring 92 

Ilsley, John P 55 

Indian Creek Meeting 53 

Indian Mound 52 

Indian Queen Lane 38, 41, 46 

Inn, Ye Roebuck .'.41 

Ivy 28, 32, 48, 53, 57 

Ivy, Abbotsford 70 

Ivy, English 70 

Ivy Hill Cemetery 33 

Ivy Lodge 62, 64 

/ Jansen House 19 

■^ Jellett, Stewart A 33 

Jenkins, Charles F 23 

Jerusalem Oak 54 

Jester, Oliver 69 

Johnson 23 

Johnson, Doctor 81 

Johnson, Miss Elizabeth R 65, 74, 76 

Johnson, Ellwood 52, 65, 77, 87 

Johnson, Miss Sally W 81 

Johnson's Spring 92 

Johnson Street 27, 43, 52, 82, 85, 87, 88 

Jones, Thomas 45 

Judas Tree 35, 56 

Juniper 31, 35, 52', 62 

^ Kalm, Peter 19 

Karsner, Dr. Daniel 87 

Keiffer Pear 60 

Keiffer, Peter 60, 83 

Kelly, Judge Wm. D ' . 36 

Kelpius, John 70 

Kemble, Fanny 27, 35, 36, 47 

Kew Gardens 13 

Keyser 23 

Keyser, Peter 64 

Keyser-Rodney House 48 

103 



INDEX 

Kilmarnock Willow 88 

Kin, Matthias 69 

Kitchen 50 

Kitchen's Bridge 91 

Klever, Peter 75 

Kulp, William 48 

Kurtz, Henry 69 

Kyser's Lane 17, 76 

/ Lafayette 72 

Lafayette Crossing 67 

Landscape Gardening 30 

Larch 42, 45, 57, 80, 83 

Laurel 55 

Laurel-Hill Cemetery 63 

Lawson, Alexander 33 

Lebanon, Cedar of 30, 31, 63 

Le Boutillier, Roberts 53 

Lehman, Christian 68 

Lehman, Godfried 19, 21, 23, 59 

Lehman's Quarry 19 

Leibert, Peter 83 

Lenhart Memorial 86 

Lewis, Prof. Henry Carvill 63 

Liberty Tree 90 

Lilac, Persian 76 

Lily, Wild Goose 87 

Limekiln Pike 38, 42, 51 

Linden 50, 69, 72, 84, 89 

Linden, Blair 50 

Lippard, George 78 

Lippincott, J. Bertram 26 

Livezey Lane 60, 83 

Livezey Mills 74 

Locust 83 

Locust, Clammy 77 

Locust, Honey 49 

Logan, James 31, 40, 48, 62 

Logan Spring 92 

Logan Station 28 

Lomtaardy Poplar 22, 30, 92 

Longstreth, Helen T 87 

Loudoun 38, 54 

104. 



INDEX 



Love-apple 47 

Lovering, Joseph S 50 

Lovett Library 48 

Lower Burying Ground 17, 84, 86 

Ludwig, Christopher 42 

Ludwlg Farm 43 

Lukens' Mill Road 16 

Lutheran Seminary 38 

M Macarthur, Charles T 34 

MacKellar, Thomas 26, 50, 72 

McClanachan, Blair 80 

Magnolia 88 

Magnolia, Evergreen 53 

Magnolia, Glauca 31, 58, 66, 88, 89 

Magnolia, Meng's 68 

Magnolia Street 87 

Magnolia, Swamp 31, 58, 65, 88, 89 

Magnolia, Yellow Flowering 31 

Mahonia 62 

Maiden-hair Tree 58 

Mammoth Tree 83 

Manheim 38, 41, 46, 61 

Manheim Street 33, 41, 45, 46, 47, 49, 64 

Manley, Edward 68 

Maple, Baumann's 46, 48 

Maple, Blood-Leaved 60 

Maple, Cut-Leaved 61 

Maple, Norway 87 

Maple Scarlet 43 

Maple', Silver . . 34, 35, 36, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 88, 86, 89 

Market Square 41, 79 

Market Square Burying Ground 86 

Maryland Mulberry 90 

Mason, James S 51 

Masonic Hall 37 

McCallum Street 52 

McKean Avenue 33 

McKean's Hill 44 

McLean, Hugh 45 

McMahon, David 76 

Mears, Mrs. Anne DeB 29, 39 

Mechlin House 40 

105 



INDEX 

Meehan Avenue 84 

Meehan, Joseph 50, 52, 56, 84, 86 

Meehan Memorial 91 

Meehans' Monthly 51, 63 

Meehans' Nurseries 43, 45, 61, 62, 73, 83, 85 

Meehan, Prof. Thomas 13, 51, 56, 78, 85, 88, 90, 91 

Meehan, William E 57, 73, 78, 80 

Megargee, Charles 73 

Megargee's Dam 50 

Melon 47 

Melville, Eng. George W 74 

Memorial Trees 33, 62, 87, 91 

Meng's Magnolia 69 

Meng, Melchior 69 

Middleton House 42 

Middleton, Joseph 89 

Middleton, "Mollie," Tree 87 

Midvale Avenue 49 

Mifflin, Lloyd 42 

Milan, Hans 23 

Mill Creek 34 

"Mill Grove" 39 

Mill Street 38, 42 

Miller, E. Rittenhouse 88 

Miller, N. Dubois 54 

Miller & Yates 88 

Mile Stone, Old 28 

Milton's Walk 43 

Montgomery Avenue 89 

Monticello 89 

Morris, Bishop B. Wistar 38 

Morris, Elizabeth C 23 

Morris, Blliston P. 65, 79 

Morris, Col. Galloway C 62 

Morris, John T 90 

Morris, Samuel B 41, 65 

Morris Street 86 

Morton Street 27, 70, 88 

Morus Multicaulis 70 

Mt. Airy Avenue 51 

Mt. St. Joseph Academy 89 

Muhlenberg, Henry 66 

Mulberry 90 

io6 



INDEX 



Mulberry, White 70, 71 

Murphy, D. D., Rev. John K 70 

Murter, Joseph 22, 72 

Musgrave Street 52 

Mystics 70 

J\r Nafle, "Joe" 54 

Naglee Hill 19, 38 

Naglee House 23, 24, 40, 54 

National Cemetery 42 

Newhall, Robert S 53 

Newington 28 

Nicetown Lane 30, 64 

Nicholson, George 13 

Nixon, Miss 49 

Norris, Debby 25 

Norris, Isaac 25 

Northwood Cemetery 39 

Norwood Avenue 36, 89 

Nuttall's Spleenwort 66 

Nuttall, Thomas 59, 66, 71 

Nutwold 27 

n Oak 13, 34, 44, 54, 69, 80, 88 

Oak, Black 61, 87 

Oak, English 89 

Oak, Japanese 85 

Oak, Jerusalem 54 

Oak Lane 73, 88 

Oak, Laurel 89 

Oak, Mossy-cup 56 

Oak, Overcup 56, 58 

Oak, Pin 91 

Oak, Red 20, 31, 33, 34, 61 

Oak, Shingle 89 

Oak, Weeping 56 

Oak, White 26, 29, 31, 32, 33, 87 

Oats 21 

Obolaria 67 

Ogden, Rev. J. C 21 

Old Oaks' Cemetery 33, 44 

Oldmixon 18 

Old-School .38 

107 



INDEX 

"Old York Road" 39 

"One Oak" 33 

Orange 62 

Orange, Hards'^ 58 

Osage Orange 53, 58 

Outalauna 39 

Oxford 14 

p Pancoast, Charles E 43 

Pancoast, David 42 

Papaw 58 

Papen House 19 

Paragon Chestnut 88 

Paramore, George 81 

Pastorius, Daniel 71 

Pastorius, Francis Daniel 16, 18, 21, 23, 25, 60, 69 

Pastorius Street 46 

Paulownia 87 

Pawling Road 39 

Peach 19, 92 

Pear 57, 68, 75, 77 

Pear, Catherine 57 

Pear, Chancellor 60 

Pear, Keiffer 60 

Pear, Sugar 57 

Pecan 70, 71 

Pelham 84 

Peltz, David 64 

Penn, J. Granville 62 

Penn Street 42, 61, 64 

Penn, William 16, 17, 18, 31, 62 

Pennypacker, Gov. S. W 15, 16, 39, 75 

Penrose Ferry Bridge 72 

Perkiomen Creek 40 

Perkiomen Valley 74 

Perot Farm 39 

Persimmon 30, 74 

Persimmon, Japanese 74 

Peters, Judge Richard 72 

Philadelphia 14, 15, 30, 31, 41, 53 

Phil-Ellena 84, 87 

Physick, Philip 70, 71 

Physick, Dr. Philip Syng 70 

io8 



INDEX 

Pinckney Homestead 36 

Pine, Austrian P' ^"^ 

Pine, Himalayan 29, 89 

Pine, Jersey 51, 81, 89 

Pine, White 26, 29, 37, 39, 42, 47, 83, 87 

Pinus Inops ^^ 

Pimis Rigida ^}^ 

Plane, Burlington ^0 

Plane Tree 30, 43 

Pleasant Street 84 

Plum, Cut-leaved 86 

"Plumb-tree" ^8 

Plockhoy, Peter Cornells 75, 76 

Ployd, Naaman K '79 

Pomona Grove 64, 78 

Poplar, Gray 58 

Poplar, Lombardy 22, 30, 92 

Poplar, Silver 39. 58 

Poplar, Tulip 27, 30, 31, 34, 50, 54, 80, 83 

Poplar, White 27 

Price, Thomas C 89 

Price, Wister 45 

Prospect Avenue 89 

Pulaski Avenue 33, 36, 49 

Pumps 9o 

Q Quarry, Lehman's 19 

Queen of Evergreens 29 

Queen Lane Basin 49 

Quince ^5 

Rabbit Lane 52, 74, 88 

Rabbit Lane Wood 67 

Rafinesque, C. F 48 

Rahns' Station 40 

"Records of Later Life" 35, 36 

Redles, George 29, 32, 44, 48, 49, 52, 55, 70 

Reeves, Francis B 33 

Retinospora Plumosa 42 

Revolutionary Pear 77 

Rex Avenue 50 

Rhododendrons 46 

Ridge Road 16 

Rittenhouse 23 

109 



INDEX 



Rittenhouse, David 74 

Rittenhouse School 80 

Rittenhouse, William 75 

Rittenhouse Wood 66 

Rivinia 87 

Rivinus, Dr 87 

Roberts Mill 86 

Rochef oucault, Duke de la 21 

Rock-House 23, 40 

"Rocky-Mountains" 45 

Rodney House 48 

Rogers, Major Robert 21 

Roset, Jac. M 47, 81 

Rose of Japan 79 

Rose, York and Lancaster 82 

Roxborough 17 

Russell, George W 86 

Rj-e 21 

C Sassafras 49, 51 

Saunders, William 85 

Saur, Christopher 59 

Schaeffer, William L 88 

Schlatter, Michael 49 

School-House Lane, 16, 29, 36, 39, 40, 41, 44, 49, 50, 52, 
58, 60, 67, 83, 87. 

Scott, Sir Walter 15, 70 

Scott, R. Robinson 67 

Scott's Spleenwort 67 

Schuylkill River 41, 67 

Seckle-Pear 72 

Seymour Street 49, 86 

Seymour, Widow 32 

Shoemaker, Benjamin H 42 

Shoemaker's Lane 50 

Sibson, John F 44 

Silver-bell 85, 86 

Silver-Pine Cottage 38 

Silver-Pine Farm 37 

Smearsburg 54 

Smith, Miss Elizabeth P 62 

Smith, John Jay 57, 61, 63 

Smoke-tree 87 

1 10 



INDEX 

Smyth, Frank 27 

Soap-stone Quarry 67 

Solitude 26 52 

"Sparrowgrass Papers" ' 89 

Spencer Farm gg 

fP"°S« •, ■■■.■.■.■.■.■.;■.■.■.■.■.■.■.■ 54; '93 

Spring-Alley 47 92 

Spring-Bank 37 ' '^2, 53,' 88 

Spruce gg 

Spruce, Colorado Blue 89 

Spruce, Norway ■■.■.■.■.■.■.■.■ 29, 'ss,' 88 

Spruce, Oriental 74 

Stage-Coach 93 

St. Luke's Cliurch 38 

St. Michael's Lutheran Church 43 84 

St. Michael's P. E. Church '.'.".'.'. ' 70 

St. Paul's Church Rectory 77 

St. Vincent De Paul Church 84 

Steel, Edward T 50 

ll^^l^^ ■ '.'.'.'.■.■.'. "30,' i?i; 61, "74V92 

Stenton Avenue 17, 32, 38, 52, 57 89 

Stewardson, Thomas 70 

Stiver, Mrs. M. H 32 

Stokes, James 04 

Stokes, Thomas P. C 44 

Stoneburner, Leonard 79 

Strawbridge, Dr. George 44 

Strawbridge, Justus C '. 1 ! ' 29,' 36, "50 

Stuart, Gilbert .7 

Sugar Pear ..]....... 57 

"Suicides' Grave" eg 

Summit Street 89 

Sumneytown Pike 53 

Sunset Avenue 36 89 

Swamp Magnolia '55 

Sycamore ii \o 

Y Tamarisk 70 

Taws, Mrs '.'.'.'.'.'.'. 88 

Thomas, George C 53 

Thomas's Mill Road ri 

Thomas, Robert .' 18 22 72 

Thorp's Lane '.'.* '.'.".'.'.'.".■" 35,' 42,' 52 

III 



INDEX 

Three-Mile Run 16 

"Tinker" Frey 55, 92 

Toland House 38, 54 

Toll-gate 93 

Tomato 47 

Torworth 50 

Towanda Street 51 

Town-Hall Park 36, 64 

Tov/nship Line Road 44, 71, 86 

Treaty Tree 90 

Trossachs 63 

Tucker, John 44 

Tulip 28, 68 

Tulip-Poplar 32, 34, 50, 54 

Tulphohocken Street 27, 49, 52, 55, 62, 87, 88 

Turn-pike Bridge 24 

TJ Upper Burying Ground 17 

Upsala 38, 42, 56, 81, 82, 83, 93 

TJpsal Street 80, 81 

Y Valley Creek 34 

Varnish-tree 87 

Vernon 26, 33, 37, 45, 58, 64, 69, 77, 79, 92 

Vinegar-Hill 52, 87 

Virgilia 45 

V ollmer, Charles E 38 

u/ Wagner House 40, 54 

Wagner, John 50 

Wakefield 31, 34, 50 

Wakefield, Little 32, 34 

Wakefield Mills 32 

Wakefield Street 33 

Walking Fern 67 

Walnut, Black 20, 27, 30, 37, 43, 73, 83 

Walnut, English 65, 68 

Walnut Lane 37, 47, 50, 51, 55, 64, 73, 88 

Walnut, White 34 

Walter, John 14 

Walters, Philip 48 

Ward, Townsend 20, 30, 75 

Warner Burying Ground 70 

Warner, Christian 69, 70 

112 



INDEX 

Warr, John 32 

Washington, George 26, 43, 50, 65, 72 

Washington Lane 19, 27, 38, 53, 64, 76, 81, 87 

Watchman's Box 92 

Watson, John Fanning 61 

Wayne Junction 54 

Wayne Street 55 

Weeping Willow 69, 92 

Weightman, William 38 

Weiss, Charles 26 

Weiss, George 59 

Welsh, John 37, 42, 53 

Welsh, Samuel 36 

Wescott, Thompson 25 

West-Chester 90 

Wharton, Joseph 39 

Wheat 21 

Wheel-Pump 49 

White-Cottage 48, 53 

White-Pine 26, 29, 37, 39, 42, 47, 83, 87 

"Widow Seymour" 32 

Wild Garden 56, 66 

WilKams, Alfred 38 

Willits, Dr. I. P 37 

Willow Avenue 25 

Willow, Kilmarnock 88 

Willow, Weeping 22, 25, 26, 77 

Willow, White 25 

Wingohocken Creek 32, 45, 52 

Wingohocken Valley 34 

Wissahickon, 50, 51, 52, 60, 64, 67, 68, 69, 74, 87, 91, 93 
Wissahickon Avenue, 17, 29, 33, 36, 38, 42, 44, 45, 47, 51 

Wistar, Dillwyn 55 

Wister 23 

Wisteria 77 

Wister's Coral Plant 67 

Wister, Charles J 57, 58, 59, 67 

Wister, Jr., Charles J 42, 56, 57, 59, 59 

Wister, Daniel 34 

Wister, John 33 69 

Wister, Lowry 34 

Wister Memorial Tree 34 

Wister Street 42, 55, 56, 62, 83 



113 



INDEX 

Wister, William Rotch 29, 61, 76 

Wister, William Wynne 47 

Wister's Wood 33, 34 

Witt, Dr. Christopher 23, 70 

Wood, Miss A. R 74 

Woodlands 57 

Woodside 50 

Wootten 90 

Wright, James A 44, 74 

Wyck 23, 26, 54, 58, 72, 73, 88, 93 

Y Ye Roebuck Inn 41 

Yellow Fever 65 

Yew, American 83 

Yew, Creeping 56, 82 

Yew, English 13, 78, 79, 83 

Yew, Irish 84, 87 

Yew, Pomona 78 

York Farm 27, 36 

York Road 17, 26, 28, 30, 37, 47 



114 



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WERT 
BOOKBINDING 

Crahtville, Pa 

JULV AUG 1989 










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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



005 308 656 1 



